(NEWSER) — When 29-year-old Brittany Maynard took her own life in a physician-assisted suicide in 2014, it brought an end to her own role in a national debate about the right of terminally ill patients to choose the terms of their own death. Now, Maynard's mother is continuing her daughter's quest for right-to-die legislation with a new book about her daughter's journey, Wild and Precious Life. The book, however, is making headlines for another reason as well—Maynard's widower doesn't think Deborah Ziegler should have written it, Cosmopolitan reports. In a post shared on Facebook, Dan Diaz writes that Maynard told him, "No one else can tell my story Dan, except for you." He has criticized the book as inaccurate and colored by Ziegler's own "opinions, concerns, and thoughts."
Diaz says his wife told him that while she loved her mother dearly, she did not want Ziegler to tell her story. He is working to share his wife's story in a film, a medium he believes is more suited to the story. Publisher Atria Books defends the book, saying it honors Ziegler's promise to her daughter to push for right-to-die progress, reports People. Ziegler herself, meanwhile, talks about Maynard in an interview with Katie Couric at Yahoo News. “She said, ‘Mom, instead of grandkids, this is what I’m giving you. I can’t give you grandbabies, but I can give you this, to champion the cause of the terminally ill.'" (This teen decided to end her treatment after a special "last dance.")
More from Newser:
Newser is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
