Throughout the week, we keep people up-to-date with information about the Death with Dignity movement and other topics related to end-of-life care through Facebook and Twitter. Below are highlights from this week.

Efforts regarding Death with Dignity:

• The Vermont House of Representatives passed a Death with Dignity bill! The bill still has a ways to go, and VTDigger explored the different paths it may take.
• Death with Dignity National Center executive director Peg Sandeen was interviewed by The Washington Times. The interview was published over two days: part 1 and part 2.
• A UK poll found overwhelming support for Death with Dignity among people of most religious faiths. Of those supporting a change in the law, 82% agreed that an "individual has the right to choose when and how to die".
• A poll in Canada found the majority of Albertans "felt dying adults should have the right to end their life early."
• Cate Faehrmann introduced an assisted death bill for consideration by the Parliament of New South Wales in Australia. Watch the video of her speech to Parliament to learn why. Greg Piper explained why he supports changing the laws around assisted death in Australia.

Throughout the week, we keep people up-to-date with information about the Death with Dignity movement and other topics related to end-of-life care through Facebook and Twitter. Below are highlights from this week.

Efforts regarding Death with Dignity:

• The Vermont House of Representatives started hearing testimony on Senate Bill 77 which would make Vermont the third state with a law allowing for physician-assisted death.
• A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine of the program Seattle Cancer Care Alliance created to allow for patient access to Washington's Death with Dignity Act.
• Political strategist Christian Sinderman wrote about the legacy of Booth Gardner and Blair Butterworth.
• Drew Sample interviewed me about Death with Dignity for his Sample Hour podcast.
• Joan Quigley of The Jersey Journal explained why the proposed New Jersey Death with Dignity bill should move forward, and readers responded in support of her stance.
• Through the remarks of Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, Rod Newman of Missoula, MT helped Christians understand why Death with Dignity laws are "moral ethical and Christian."
• The Montana Senate voted 31-17 to move the bill banning assisted death out of the Judiciary Committee to the floor of the Senate for debate.

Like many workplaces around the world, productivity in the offices of the Death with Dignity National Center plummeted earlier this week, as our employees were engaged in the news coverage of the selection of the new pope. The selection and revealing of the new pontiff were the general topics of conversation throughout the day, and our work time together concluded with an energetic round of conclave trivia.

Interesting, I thought, for an organization whose main detractor is the Catholic Church; interesting for an organization whose main program over the past four years was derailed at the last minute by a spending spree by the Catholic Church and Catholic entities. Why were we captivated by the activities of those responsible for stamping out the reforms we're trying so hard to achieve?

Earlier this month, Peg Sandeen mentioned how the recent high-profile work in Massachusetts has elevated and amplified the national conversation about assisted death. And in just in the last week, I've noticed a marked increase in articles about Death with Dignity laws throughout the northeast region. Coverage continued in Massachusetts, and opinion pieces in favor of Death with Dignity popped up multiple times in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont.

Some highlights:

• VTDigger and other media outlets picked up Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin's strong statements about what he'd like to see as legislative priorities in the upcoming session. Regarding Death with Dignity:

  It's the right thing to do, and the Legislature will do what's right for Vermonters.

  Shumlin said he supports the Death with Dignity bill because he doesn't understand why the state should interfere in a private decision made by an individual who has a terminal illness and wants to avoid suffering through the last 10 to 14 days of life.