Death With Dignity Act – Page 6 – The Good Death Society Blog

February 11, 2018

Medical Aid in Dying: When Legal Safeguards Become Burdensome Obstacles

In 2017, the District of Columbia (DC) became the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to legalize medical aid in dying, which gives terminally ill patients the option of how and when they die. The new DC statute is nearly identical to earlier enacted medical aid in dying statutes in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington State. Only Montana legalized medical aid in dying through a court decision, but subsequently, proponents of the act have failed in every attempt to legalize medical aid in dying through constitutional or statutory litigation. (Continue reading ...)

February 5, 2018February 10, 2018

How do we improve DWD laws? – Part 2

[NOTE: Because of a problem with a component of the website, I am re-publishing this post today. A new post will appear in the in-boxes of subscribers Monday. I had hoped we would get some comments or feedback about this post.] In Part 1, I discussed the state of death with dignity (DWD) laws in the United States and suggested eliminating the "six months to live" criterion. Here in Part 2, I discuss the Canadian example, other suggestions that may ease some restrictions of death with dignity acts (DWDAs), and add an important precaution that should help protect vulnerable people and provide better medical services. (Continue reading ...)

January 22, 2018January 23, 2018

How do we improve DWD laws? – Part 1

Oregon's Death With Dignity Act (DWDA), implemented in 1998, was a monumental step forward in pursuing the primary goal of permitting those suffering from illness or disease to hasten their own death. But its advocates realized that, out of political necessity, it was not a universally applicable law, covering everyone in need. And the DWDA did not assure that all people have excellent medical care to meet their needs, though Oregon did dramatically improve palliative care in the state, diminishing the need for many people to make use of the DWDA. (Continue reading ...)

September 17, 2017March 18, 2022

A response to disability rights activists’ opposition to the right to die, PART 1

Five years ago in Massachusetts, the right to autonomy in one’s body went down to defeat in a vote related to irrational fear by some disability rights advocates working through the activist group Not Dead Yet. Their position was that they would be compelled or coerced into ending their own lives if the initiative passed. (Continue reading ...)

September 11, 2017March 18, 2022

A toast “to life” may include the wish for a peaceful death

Nearly everyone hopes for a peaceful death; yet such an end can be elusive. Many of us face both philosophical and practical questions as we do what we can to make our own deaths peaceful. Some of us may have religious questions. Judaism, like many other religions, is all over the map in its thinking about ways to achieve a peaceful death. (Continue reading ...)

September 3, 2017March 18, 2022

I’ll See Myself Out, Thank You: Notes on the Right to Die

Two years ago, a book of thirty essays supporting the right to assisted death edited by Colin Brewer and Michael Irwin, was published by Skyscraper Publications, Ltd. Most of the essays make arguments familiar to Americans involved in the right-to-die movement, but often with a European (and British) take that makes them fresh. Others tell first-person stories that are as riveting as any heard in the US. (Continue reading ...)

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