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Oregon choice in dying law after 20 years

Sep 19th, 2017 by

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act: Two Decades of Data

By Tara Haelle

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act (DWDA), passed through a voter-approved ballot initiative in 1997, lays out strict requirements for patients interested in requesting a prescription from their physician that would enable the patient to end to his or her life. In the 20 years since its passage, 0.2% of deaths in Oregon resulted from DWDA prescriptions but the number is increasing, researchers report in an article published online today in Annals of Internal Medicine.

To obtain a DWDA prescription, patients must be adults of sound mind, have Oregon residency status, and have a terminal illness diagnosis. In addition, two physicians must confirm the patient’s diagnosis and prognosis, the patient must be offered hospice care, and the patient must make one witnessed written request and two oral requests at least 15 days apart.

Among the 1857 Oregon residents who received DWDA prescriptions between 1998 and June 2017, 64% died from taking the prescribed drugs. These deaths represented a rate of 19 per 10,000 total deaths out of the 614,972 all-cause deaths of Oregon adults during that period.

Cancer was the diagnosis for 77% of DWDA patients, 8% had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 5% had chronic respiratory disease, and 2% had heart disease. Among adults with these same diagnoses who did not elect DWDA prescriptions, the rate of death was 54.6 per 10,000 deaths.

DWDA death rates showed relative increases of 14% each year from 1998 to 2013 and 36% annually from 2013 to 2015. Although DWDA deaths appeared to level off in 2016, it’s unclear Continue Reading »

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Death With Dignity Act, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Final Exit, Hemlock, Oregon law, physician-assisted suicide, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, Switzerland | No Comments »

The life story of a right-to-die pioneer

Sep 12th, 2017 by

NEW book, the memoir of Derek Humphry ‘Good Life, Good Death’ in hardback is now available at
http://www.finalexit.org/ergo-store/books-c-65/
Memoir is autographed. Could also be inscribed to you by request. New low price $20+$6 -USA

ERGO Bookstore at www.finalexit.org/ergo-store

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Books, Derek Humphry, Final Exit, Hemlock | No Comments »

1.2 percent of all Swiss deaths were assisted suicides

Sep 2nd, 2017 by

DIGNITAS (Switzerland) newsletter for August 2017

According to the Swiss government’s deaths statistics, a mere 1.2 % of all deaths registered in 2014 were accompanied suicides.

DIGNITAS has calculated – based on the data published by the Swiss self-determination organizations – that also in the two subsequent years, the number of assisted suicides stayed below 1.5 %. The Swiss system of freedom of choice and self-responsibility in end-of-life questions has proved sensible for 35 years now.

http://dignitas.ch/images/stories/pdf/join.pdf

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Dignitas, Final Exit, physician-assisted suicide, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Switzerland | No Comments »

Should the physician-assisted law be improved?

Aug 24th, 2017 by

Letter to the Editor of the Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, 21 August 2017:

Death With Dignity law falls short

I read with interest about the new organization in Oregon dealing with death with dignity (guest viewpoint, Aug. 16).

The Oregon Death With Dignity law is good, but can be more compassionate. It could be expanded to be more inclusive of people who are suffering needlessly. There are many people lying in bed with miserable qualities of life who wish there was a third option to terminate their suffering.

I recently started a drive to get a petition going to change the Oregon law. I recently was in contact with Derek Humphry, author of “Final Exit.” He was also an original driver behind our first law. He originally wanted it expanded to begin with, but had to compromise.

I’ve been in contact with the national Death With Dignity groups and they didn’t want to talk to me. Humphry explained that Oregon’s law is the model for the rest of the nation. Proponents are afraid that if we try to change it, that’ll proved it’s a flawed law and will hurt their efforts.

My reply is yes, we have a good law, but it needs to be more compassionate. Oregon is a compassionate state; that’s already proven. Why stick the other states with the original restrictive law? Help us fix our law and be a better example.

—Bruce Yelle, Florence, Oregon

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Death With Dignity Act, Derek Humphry | No Comments »

Is there lawful free speech in the death with dignity movement ?

Aug 22nd, 2017 by

The blog of the Oxford University Press August 22, 2017, printed this article about free speech and the right-to-die movement:

Is advocating suicide a crime under the First Amendment?
Rational Suicide, Irrational Laws: Examining Current Approaches to Suicide in Policy and Law

By Susan Stefan
Two different cases raising similar issues about advocating suicide may shape US policy for years to come. In Massachusetts, Michelle Carter was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for urging her friend Conrad Roy not to abandon his plan to kill himself by inhaling carbon monoxide: “Get back in that car!” she texted, and he did. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has already ruled that prosecuting her for involuntary manslaughter was permissible, even though she was not on the scene. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was careful to insist that its holding did not criminalize assisting the suicide of a person with a terminal illness:

It is important to articulate what this case is not about. It is not about a person seeking to ameliorate the anguish of someone coping with a terminal illness and questioning the value of life. Nor is it about a person offering support, comfort and even assistance to a mature adult who, confronted with such circumstances, has decided to end his or her life.

And now the case of Final Exit v. Minnesota is before the Supreme Court, with Final Exit asking the Supreme Court to take the case and overturn its conviction for assisting the suicide of Doreen Dunn on First Amendment grounds. Notably, no individual was convicted in that case: the medical director was given use immunity to testify against the organization, which was found guilty of the crime, and was fined $30,000.

Final Exit Network was convicted Continue Reading »

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Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, physician-assisted suicide, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations | No Comments »

Chance that Final Exit Network appeal will be heard

Jul 28th, 2017 by

Attorney Robert Rivas posted in Final Exit Network web page:

“The Scotusblog (“Scotus” = Supreme Court of the United States), a blog by experts in the Scotus, has selected Final Exit Network’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari as its featured “Petition of the Day” for July 27, 2017. Scotusblog says its “Petition of the Day” features petitions that are likely to appear on its “Petitions to Watch” list when they are scheduled for consideration by the Justices.

“Petitions of the day” are described as those that are “identified as raising one or more questions that have a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.” Fingers crossed. This is the appeal on First Amendment grounds from the Minnesota conviction.

http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/07/petition-of-the-day-1192/Petition of the day – SCOTUSblog”

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Posted in Assisted dying, Derek Humphry, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Living Will, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations | No Comments »

Prize offered the best self-deliverance equipment

Jul 20th, 2017 by

Inaugural 2017 NuTech Prize

It is with great pleasure that Exit International announces the establishment of a prize to be awarded to the most innovative use of technology to improve the means of providing a peaceful, elective and autonomous (DIY) death.

The US$5000 prize will be awarded at the NuTech 2017 gathering in Toronto on 28th October 2017.
There is no entry fee required, and all submitted ideas will be considered for the award.

To submit a proposal (idea, draft, concept, or prototype) you are invited to contact NuTech at nutech@protonmail.com with a short (<500 word) summary of your proposal and (if applicable) related images.

A person submitting a proposal is welcome to attend the Toronto meeting, either in person or by video link, to speak about their idea.
Proposals will be considered by a specially convened judging panel consisting of:

Derek Humphry
Derek has had a lifetime of experience in the right to die movement, and authored the pioneering self-help manual Final Exit in 1991. Derek was instrumental in the establishment of the NuTech movement.

Tom Curran
Tom lives in Ireland and is the European coordinator of Exit International. He came to international prominence when, together with his partner, MS sufferer Marie Fleming, took a case for access to legal assistance to die to the Irish Supreme and High Courts.

Miriam de Bontridder
Miriam is an Appeals Court judge in NL with a long history of involvement in the Dutch right to die movement. Miriam lives in Amsterdam and is a Chairperson of Stichting De Einder.

For further information about the prize, or the NuTech (Toronto) gathering, please contact NuTech nutech@protonmail.com or by phone Philip Nitschke +31 630 966 992

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Posted in Derek Humphry, Euthanasia, Events/Conferences, Final Exit, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Self-directed death, Suicide (rational), Switzerland | No Comments »

Drug scammers pretending they’re genuine

Jul 13th, 2017 by

Stuff.co.nz website reports 13 July 2017:
Dodgy scam site uses Kiwi pro-euthanasia protest imagery to sell bogus suicide drugs

Pro-euthanasia lobby group Exit International is warning its members off a scam website, based in the Ukraine, which is fleecing the elderly by selling the popular and costly suicide drug Nembutal, which never arrives.

Those falling for the scam are mostly elderly people, many in poor health and with little internet savvy.

They are being gouged about $1100 – the price of a 25gm dose of the drug – and are too frightened to go to the authorities to complain about buying an illegal substance.

Exit founder Philip Nitschke said about three of its members were in contact every week about the ripoff as the market for the lethal Class C controlled drug, used in assisted suicide, grows worldwide.

The Painless Path website uses a Stuff picture of supporters protesting outside the assisted suicide trial of Wellington euthanasia advocate Susan Austen.

Austen, 66, a Lower Hutt teacher, was charged in October 2016 with having twice imported pentobarbitone, more commonly known by its trade name Nembutal. In high doses, it causes death by respiratory arrest.

Nitschke was gobsmacked the site offered cheaper rates for teenagers and said the use of a news photo featuring euthanasia lobbyists in genuine protest was perfect for a scam site as it appeared credible and featured people from an older demographic.

Exit’s handbook lists a handful of legitimate sites in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and China but Nitschke says there are nearly 100 scam sites, a number that is growing in parallel with the rising global demand for the drug as an end-of-life option.

“Luckily they don’t sell anything, just take your money. We’ll be alerting members … the steady growth in internet scams over the past decade is an indication of the growing global market in this drug ,” he said.

The handbook had been updated to list bogus sites.

Nitschke said sites like Painless Path relied on those who fell for the scam being too frightened or sick to report it to the authorities.

“This is a vulnerable group who can hardly go to authorities saying I lost money buying this illegal drug. They’d be admitting to breaking the law.”

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Posted in Nembutal, People in the News, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Self-directed death, Suicide (rational) | No Comments »

A memoir you might want to read

Jul 6th, 2017 by

New memoir by Derek Humphry — on Amazon etc

Posted in Assisted Suicide | No Comments »

Final Exit Network appealing to Supreme Court

Jun 21st, 2017 by

PRESS RELEASE
** Final Exit Network Appeals Minnesota Conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Final Exit Network has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse a 2015 Minnesota conviction, saying Minnesota violated its First Amendment-protected right to freedom of speech.

The Florida-based non-profit corporation, Final Exit Network, Inc., was convicted in Hastings, Minnesota in 2015 on a charge of assisting in a suicide. The proof at trial, however, established that Final Exit Network’s volunteer Exit Guides did not assist Doreen Dunn, 57, an Apple Valley, MN resident, in her self-deliverance. In keeping with Final Exit Network’s usual practices, they only instructed her on the process.

The Supreme Court of Minnesota redefined the word assist to prohibit speech that enables a suicide. Final Exit Network argues in its petition for review, docketed in the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, June 13, that no American court has ever stretched the word “assist” to prohibit pure speech, without any conduct.

The Network’s petition in the United States Supreme Court emphasizes the information the Network gave Dunn “is readily available in bookstores, libraries, and online and is depicted in movies, documentaries, and articles of every sort,” and Minnesota may not make it a crime to repeat this information.

The Network’s petition takes pains to clearly define the difference between the Minnesota case and the recent case of Michelle Carter, a teenager who was convicted in Massachusetts last week of involuntary manslaughter for causing the suicide of her boyfriend through text messages and phone calls in which she clearly encouraged him, shaming him into staying in a vehicle as he was dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Carter case has alarmed free speech advocates. The ACLU of Massachusetts, for instance, issued a statement that “Ms. Carter’s conviction could chill important and worthwhile end-of-life discussions between loved ones across the Commonwealth.” Robert Rivas, Final Exit Network’s general counsel, who defended the Network at the Minnesota trial and authored the Network’s petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, disagreed.

The Massachusetts court found that Carter could be convicted if her “conduct caused the victim’s death.” The court ruled that at trial, Carter’s “verbal conduct” would have to be proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, to have “caused” her 18-year-old boyfriend’s death by “overcoming any independent will to live he might have had.”

“The requirement of ‘causation’ in the Massachusetts case makes all the difference in the world,” Rivas said. “Final Exit Network was not convicted of ‘causing’ Ms. Dunn’s death.”

The Network’s petition for U.S. Supreme Court review said the instructions to the jury Continue Reading »

Posted in Assisted dying, Assisted Suicide, Derek Humphry, Dignitas, Euthanasia, Final Exit, Final Exit Network, Politics/Law, right to die, RTD News, RTD Organizations, Self-Deliverance, Self-directed death, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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