Constitutional Law

Learning From Oregon's "Death With Dignity Act"

Residents in Washington state will decide in November whether to adopt a law that would allow the terminally ill to control the timing and manner of their death. The ballot measure in Washington mirrors Oregon’s “Death With Dignity Act.” In an Issue Brief distributed by the American Constitution Society called “Choice at the End of Life: Lessons from Oregon,” Kathryn L. Tucker, director of Legal Affairs, Compassion & Choices, and an affiliate professor of law at Lewis and Clark School of Law, asserts that Oregon’s Dignity Act, has “harmed no one and has benefited both the relatively few patients in extremis who make use of it and a great many more who draw comfort from knowing this option is available.”

Tucker maintains in her brief that Oregon’s Dignity Act has “produced distinct benefits,” which should be replicated in Washington and other states. Oregon’s Dignity Act, Tucker writes, “has galvanized significant improvements in the care of the dying in Oregon.” Such improvements according to Tucker’s research include a growing number of physicians who are “improving their knowledge of the use of pain medications for the terminally ill, improving their ability to recognize depression and other psychiatric disorders, and more frequently referring their patients to hospice programs.”

Tucker concludes that a “wealth of information is now available about Oregon’s experience with legal aid in dying, demonstrating that an aid in dying law can be enacted and implemented in a way that harms no one and that benefits” patients.   

Full post as published by ACS Blog on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).