January 18, 2017

Physician aid in dying gains support

NY Times = Last June, aid-in-dying legislation took effect in California, the most populous state. In November, Colorado voters approved a ballot measure by nearly a two-thirds majority. The District of Columbia Council has passed a similar law, and the mayor quietly signed it last month.

Aid in dying was already legal in Washington, Vermont, Montana and Oregon. So even if the District of Columbia’s law is blocked, as a prominent Republican representative has threatened to do, the country has arrived at a remarkable moment: Close to 20 percent of Americans live in jurisdictions where adults can legally end their lives if they are terminally ill and meet eligibility requirements.

The laws, all based on the Death With Dignity Act Oregon adopted in 1997, allow physicians to write prescriptions for lethal drugs when patients qualify. The somewhat complicated procedure involves two oral requests and a written one, extensive discussions, and approval by two physicians. Patients must have the mental capacity to make medical decisions.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I am a member of Dignitas in Zurich, Switzerland, where you don't have to be either Swiss or terminally ill to get them to assist you humanely to pass into either oblivion or some Afterworld. Euthanasia should also be an option, particularly if the person is paralyzed. It is so stupid to oppose it because of occasional abuses ("Bye, bye Granny, now let's probate the will") instead of letting most humans choose when they think their time on Earth should end. Isn't that freedom? Isn't that "choice"? If God thinks it is an unpardonable sin, who suffers? It's time Americans, in particular, with all their bragging about liberty, really begin to think of all the actual benefits of personal liberty, and that would surely include one's rational choice (and yes, you can have all the California safeguards to make sure the person is normal and understands that this is what they want)to willingly and gladly go to The Happy Hunting Grounds and leave this spoiled planet behind.
Ted Becker