25 years of end-of-life options in Oregon
By Laurie Trieger
This month marks the 25th anniversary of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act; in approving the law, Oregon was the first state to authorize medical aid in dying. Though it was originally passed via ballot measure in 1994, the law was challenged in the courts and did not become formally available until Oct. 27, 1997.
All these years later, nine more states and Washington, D.C., have made this compassionate end-of-life choice available to its residents, and people across the country are learning how to have difficult conversations with their loved ones about their end-of-life wishes. I am inspired by the advocates before me who have given us this option. One of those advocates was my mother, a longtime supporter of medical aid in dying.
A trusted and time-tested medical practice, medical aid in dying allows a terminally ill, mentally capable adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live the opportunity to request from their doctor a prescription for medication they can decide to self-ingest to die peacefully in their sleep. My mother was a member of the Hemlock Society and taught me from an early age how critical it is for all of us to have agency over our bodies, our lives and our deaths.
Read the entire article in the Eugene Register-Guard 10/26/2022 at
https://www.registerguard.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2022/10/26/25th-anniversary-of-oregon-death-with-dignity-act-end-of-life-choices-oct-27-1997/69588464007/
Tags: Death With Dignity, Derek Humphry, Final Exit, hemlock society, Oregon law, physician assisted death, terminal illness
