Oregon Death with Dignity Act

terminal disease struggle with their upcoming death is wearisome. Suffering in the hospital, their life is not of quality and their family is watching them struggle. Highly debated, physician assisted suicide has been named one of the options for terminally ill patients. Physician assisted suicide occurs when a terminally ill patient makes the decision that they would prefer to die, rather than suffer the rest of their life; then a physician can assist them in death by either administering euthanasia to

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act In 1997 Oregon arranged to enact the Death with Dignity Act. This act allows people who are residents of Oregon to end their own life through the voluntary self-administration o lethal medications, as prescribed by a medical professional who specifies in this area of healthcare. The Oregon Death with Dignity act requires that all physicians, patients and other professionals to submit patient information, data, and annual statistical reports to the Oregon Health Authority

medication accelerating the death process. During this process, the physician only prescribes a lethal dose of medication to a patient. According to Dr. Brian Pollard,

A patient must meet the requirements in order to qualify for physician assisted suicide. The patient must be “diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months” (Fass, and Fass 846). Being a legal resident of a state that has legalized the procedure and being eighteen years old are also requirements. Another qualification is being able to make and communicate health care decisions. Along

government was Oregon’s assisted suicide law. In October of 1997, Oregon passed the “Death with Dignity Act”, “which allowed terminally-ill people the option to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose”. The conflict was whether the state of Oregon or the federal government had the power and authority to choose whether “Death with Dignity” should be passed or not. The conflict arose when the Federal government

people who lived in Oregon passed the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. In the Article, “Observations on the first year of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act” written by Lee and Werth, they explain through the use of data how the Act has helped individuals and how the process works. The Act allows a mentally competent, terminally ill Oregon adult resident to request, and an Oregon licensed physician to prescribe, medication that may be used to assist in dying (Lee). Of course an Act like this was going

The Oregon Death With Dignity Act was a citizen-initiative ballot measure and appeared as Ballot Measure 16. The question presented to the voters was: “Shall law allow terminally ill adult Oregon patients voluntary informed choice to obtain physician’s prescription for drugs to end life?” Implementation of the act was delayed for three years because of a legal injunction. On October 27, 1997, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction, and Death With Dignity became a legal option for

assisted suicide, or assisted death. Much debate has taken place over whether or not this should be a right of the terminally ill, and whether a doctor can grant that wish. Although modern medicine has brought a multitude of benefits to humanity, it cannot relieve the pain and suffering associated with the dying process. Kate Pickert, for TIME Magazine, notes that when people hear the term “euthanasia” they think of the battle in the 1990’s, featuring Jack “Doctor Death” Kevorkian. Slowly, countries

assisting in one’s death. When twenty-nine year old Maynard was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and given less than six months to live, she made the difficult decision to pick up and move to Portland, Oregon. Oregon exists as one of only four states that have legalized assisted suicide (Egan 60-64). In Oregon, she legally ended her battle with cancer in a dignified manner (Egan 60-64). The American Heritage Dictionary defines euthanasia as, “the action of inducing the painless death of a person for reasons

ends life. In physician-assisted suicide the physician provides the necessary means or information and the patient performs the act (e.g. the physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide). However, in euthanasia the physician performs the intervention themselves. Currently, just four states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana) allow physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide currently remains a felony in New