Word: oregon
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...ELDR study, as well as similar findings in previous surveys, would indicate that "death with dignity" laws may be gaining national momentum, at least among the elderly. Some of that acceptance is due to the fact that Oregon's law seems to work - despite critics' concerns that the law would only encourage abuse, few such instances have been reported since the law was passed in 1994 and implemented in 1997. The state's legislation requires that the patient, who must be at least 18 and an Oregon resident, make two requests to die within two weeks. Two doctors must also...
More than 80% of American adults agree with Gardner, a new report shows. Another two-thirds support laws similar to Oregon's, which give people the "right to die" through physician-assisted suicide, according to the survey of 1,070 Americans released May 15 by ELDR Magazine, a publication aimed at senior citizens. More than 80% of respondents also said that, if terminally ill and in pain, they would want to be made unconscious even if it hastened death. "A painful or prolonged death is something everyone worries about," said Dave Bunnell, ELDR's editor...
Washington's proposed law would mirror Oregon's almost exactly. Proponents will have to collect 225,000 petition signatures by July 3 to get it on the ballot, and Gardner is confident they will do so. But if history is any indication, the initiative has little chance of passing in November. Voters have struck down dozens of similar "right to die" laws since the late 1980s, including in Washington State in 1992 when Gardner was governor...
...suicide. One of his biggest concerns is that while an MD is supposed to make sure the patient is not depressed, the law does not require people seeking euthanasia to undergo a formal psychiatric evaluation by a mental health professional - none of the 49 physician-assisted suicide patients in Oregon last year had one, according to the Oregon Department of Health Services. Meanwhile, Carlson notes, an estimated 90% of suicides in the U.S. are associated with mental illness. "Show me any person diagnosed with terminal illness that isn't immediately depressed," Carlson says...
Gardner dismisses these worries, noting that none of them have materialized in Oregon in the decade since its law took effect: men and women, for example, have used the law in equal numbers. "You can't live in a perfect world," he says. "But why should anyone be denied the choice to end their life if they want to?" Gardner, who does not suffer from a terminal disease, would not be eligible to take his own life under the proposed law. That is a fight for another day, he says, before adding, "If I can do anything to help people...