NJ Woman Wanted To Die Her Way. Now She Can't. A Report Says Why.

NEW JERSEY – Robin Granat wanted to die her way. She believed in coming to the aid of those in pain and suffering, just like she sought to help people who wanted to educate others on the horrors of The Holocaust. But when New Jersey's right-to-die was struck down, so, reportedly, were her plans.

Even though an appellate court restored the law this past week, The Record reported that Robin's condition has deteriorated rapidly. Now the River Vale woman is in a hospice, dying of a brain tumor and unable to express what she wants, the report says; moving her would be too dangerous and too uncomfortable.

A week ago, Robin, 59, a former competitive figure skater, sat next to her husband, Jay, as he tried to figure out what his wife wanted to say, according to The Record. "I want,” was about all she seemed to be able to express before saying this: “Help me."

“We would have circumvented this, if the law had been in effect," Jay told The Record. "This wouldn’t have happened.”

An appellate court's decision on Tuesday came a bit too late, apparently.

The court reinstated the legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed in the spring that, he says, will allow terminally ill New Jersey adults to end their lives peacefully, with dignity and at their own discretion.

An attorney for a doctor who sued to eliminate the law, Rich W Grohmann, told Patch: "We respectfully disagree with the judges' decision."

The state Supreme Court also denied the doctor's appeal for an "emergent relief" review of the matter. The appellate court ruled on Tuesday that state Superior Court Judge Paul Innes and his court "abused its discretion" in striking down the law.

"Having reviewed the record against the applicable law, we conclude the court abused its discretion in awarding preliminary injunctive relief," according to the decision.

Last week, doctors were stopped from writing prescriptions intended to assist terminally ill patients like Robin. The restraining order was requested by Yosef Glassman, a doctor, and was filed against Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, saying the law will cause "immediate and irreparable damage" to the state.

The appellate court, however, ruled that the law does not impose a problem for doctors who may disagree with it because the right-to-die procedure is voluntary.

"The 'safeguarded process' includes a detailed protocol to assist health care providers and patients to ensure that a terminally-ill patient's decision is knowing and voluntary," according to the decision.

"By way of example only, before a patient can receive life-ending medication, he or she must qualify as terminally ill, which is defined in the act to include only adult, New Jersey residents capable and determined to be terminally ill and who have voluntarily asked to receive life-ending medication," according to the decision.

"Further, as the act makes clear, participation by physicians like plaintiff is entirely voluntary," according to the decision. "The only requirement the act imposes on health care providers who, based upon religious or other moral bases, voluntarily decide not to treat a fully-informed, terminally-ill patient interested in ending their lives, is to transfer any medical records to
the new provider selected by the patient.

Robin's decision was completely voluntary. Until recently, she appeared to be active even as her prospects for living much longer dimmed.

Robin spoke on a GoFundMe page that was set up for her, saying she was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer in late 2017.

"After learning about my diagnosis, I realized that I had a very serious disease with a very poor prognosis," she said. "In short, it is highly unlikely that I will live more than a few years."

After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, Robin's husband asked her what she wanted her legacy to be, she said.

"While I am suffering with a glioblastoma now, I have been actively involved in Holocaust education for much of my life and I decided that I wanted to create a foundation that will educate this generation and future generations about The Holocaust," she said.

This information will be disseminated by books, videos, exhibits and via guest lectures by historians, filmmakers and scholars who focus on The Holocaust, she said.

"As I explained to my children, theirs is the last generation that will have the opportunity to meet living Holocaust survivors and it is important that this tragic chapter of history is never forgotten," she said.

Robin's interest in the Holocaust began as a young girl. Her father’s business partner and his wife came over for dinner and "I noticed that they had numbers tattooed on their arms."

"I asked them what these were about and they explained how they were tattooed in a concentration camp," she said.

"A few years later, I began volunteering at a Jewish home for seniors. I would entertain the residents by playing my guitar and by singing Yiddish folk songs to them."

It was her desire to shine a light on people's suffering. Now her family hopes that they can soon bring an end to her own pain.