Note: The listing on this page of any particular work does not constitute our endorsement thereof; these resources are provided strictly for information purposes. This list of peer-reviewed journal articles about physician-assisted dying and related issues is organized by topic: Implementation of Legislation Legal Challenges to Legislation Death with Dignity Laws and End-of-Life Care Palliative … Continued
This page includes information adapted from FAQs by Oregon Department of Human Services, Washington State Department of Health, Vermont Department of Health, and contributions from Dr. Carol Parrot, MD. What is Death with Dignity? Death with Dignity can refer to: Death with Dignity as an End-of-Life Option What is death with dignity as an end-of-life … Continued
Betts Cruz is a bookkeeper, photographer, and notary in Molokai, Hawai’i. In 2009, my sister Nancy found herself facing death when her ALS sent her into rapid decline. By then she’d lived with the illness for years but did not know it was ALS the entire time. She had lived and raised her family in Vermont … Continued
This week, we reflect on two significant anniversaries in the death with dignity movement. It has been four years since California’s End of Life Option Act took effect, and a year since Governor Janet Mills signed the Maine Death with Dignity Act into law. Both assisted dying statutes were results of multi-decade campaigns and personal stories. California End of … Continued
Every day, people contact us to share their personal experiences with death and dying. In recent weeks, a growing number of these stories and inquiries concern something new: the reality of supporting the dying and honoring the dead in the COVID-19 era. Strict quarantine orders and prohibitions on visitors at hospitals and nursing homes have left many feeling anxious … Continued
On February 6, Death with Dignity National Center Executive Director Peg Sandeen delivered the “State of the Death with Dignity Movement” address. Below is a video of the webcast as well as a written summary of her remarks. Three States in 15 Months We live in an unprecedented time for assisted dying. The death with … Continued
Today’s palliative care helps most people manage their pain at a tolerable level. Most of us can hope to die without writhing in agony. But what about those terminally ill patients who are not that lucky? My Sister’s Death My family and I had to watch my sister die of starvation when Bulbar ALS slowly … Continued
There are few souls in this world who, by their individual selfless acts, make a significant contribution to millions. A vibrant and courageous 29-year-old woman did exactly that during her life and her death, and in doing so changed the course of the death with dignity movement forever. Today we commemorate the life of Brittany Maynard, … Continued
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the passage of Measure 16, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, we are featuring interviews with those who in 1994 campaigned for and supported Measure 16. Today we are featuring former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts, one of the state’s most accomplished politicians and the first woman to be elected … Continued
Update: the Maine Death with Dignity Act passed in 2019. Chris Trider is a retired electrician in Leeds, Maine. He volunteers with Maine Death with Dignity, gathering signatures for an assisted-dying ballot measure. My wife, Karen, passed away from liver cancer in October 2018. When doctors discovered the cancer several months earlier, it was so advanced that … Continued
Hensleigh Crowell is a public defender in Houston, Texas. This summer, I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer. The loss of my intellectual guide, the first poet in my life, my mom, has been devastating, and I’m still figuring out how to live in a world devoid of her voice. My Mother’s Final Days Her death … Continued
Medical aid in dying is currently authorized in six states (California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington) and the District of Columbia. Most of these laws are based on the Oregon Death with Dignity Act that became effective in 1998. Medical aid in dying laws authorize terminally ill patients with less than six months to live … Continued
This is the full transcript of the speech former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts gave at our luncheon commemorating the 20th anniversary of implementation of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. There are so many stories to tell, I get so nervous. We have known each other for a very long time and there are others … Continued
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of implementation of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, we are featuring stories of those who in 1997 campaigned against the repeal of the law adopted by Oregon voters 3 years before. Today we are featuring George Eighmey, President of our Board of Directors, who was an Oregon State Representative … Continued
This year we commemorate the 20th anniversary of implementation of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. We are featuring stories of those who in 1997 campaigned against the repeal of the law adopted by Oregon voters 3 years before. Today we launch the series with an overview of the year as summarized in the 1997 … Continued
Nora Miller is a death with dignity advocate in Phoenix, Arizona. My husband Rick and I talked about death with dignity in general terms in 1996 when my mother died in pain and struggling for breath, and then again during the debates and publicity around the 1997 ballot initiative on Oregon’s law. We both agreed we’d … Continued
Jeanne McGowan-Boucher is a retired social worker in Palm Harbor, Florida. My husband Ron and I were always supportive of death with dignity. We had seen too many relatives and friends die in horrible ways, and we both decided we wouldn’t go that way. We both believed in the right to control one’s life as well … Continued
Frances D. is a retired hospice nurse in Texas. My husband Bill was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in April 2014 and spent the next eight months in agony as the cancer spread. The medications he received from hospice near the end could barely dull the pain. I spent those days being his nurse and companion, … Continued
Ed Glister is a retired businessman and consultant and a son of his lovely mother in New York City, New York. My mother Janine was a tough, brave woman. She was born in France in 1924, worked as a teacher, and met my father, a GI, during the bloody end of World War II. They married … Continued
Shahrazad Ali is a retired writer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two years ago, in 2013, the dear man I shared my life with for over 18 years died from lung cancer after two years of daily suffering, deterioration, and agony. At first Yahya kept his diagnosis to himself. I was raising our then-12-year-old grandson in Cincinnati, Ohio, … Continued
Just over twenty years ago, on November 8, 1994, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize “physician assisted suicide.” On that day, by a margin of 51 to 49 percent, voters passed the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, a ballot initiative now codified at ORS 127.800-127.897. The Death with Dignity Act permits state licensed, Drug Enforcement Administration … Continued