Ten Years Later:

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Law Celebrates a Decade of Flawless Implementation and a Legacy of Better Pain Management and Hospice Care Throughout the Nation

            Ten years ago this Saturday, on October 27, 1997, the final legal hurdle to implementation of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act was removed, paving the way for a decade of flawless implementation of the nation’s only Death With Dignity Law.

            The lifting of Federal Judge Michael Hogan’s three year injunction against the law meant that the citizen’s initiative of 1994 could finally take effect. On that day, the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the Ninth Circuit decision removing Hogan’s injunction. That occurred just eight days before Oregon voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed the law by defeating a legislative referral to repeal the Act.

            The courage of people like Emmerson Hoogstradt, Penny Schleuter, Al Sinnard, Brian Lovell and numerous other Oregonians did far more that pass a single Oregon initiative. They paved the way for change that has infused the medical profession with far more understanding and compassion as people faced difficult end-of-life decisions.

            As the law began in 1997, our state had spent those years preparing to implement the law in a way that protected patients and families with carefully crafted safeguards approved by voters. Now, as we review these past ten years, Oregonians can take great pride in what we have accomplished.

            Flawless implementation. Even we could not have imagined the thoughtful safeguards that have gone into making this law work; from the health care practitioners to the Oregon Health Division, great care has been taken to protect. As we envisioned, the law has been used infrequently, abuses have simply not occurred and the horror stories told by opponents of the law have simply not occurred. Instead, as we saw this year in the diaries of Lovell Svart as captured by the Oregonian, Oregon ’s Death With Dignity law has eased the suffering and provided great hope to people as they face the final stages of a terminal disease.

A Legacy of Better Pain Management and Hospice Care: One of the things we are most proud of is the fact that Oregon now leads the nation in hospice care, and we have seen the medical profession undergo a significant change in helping dying patients manage their pain, not just in Oregon, but across the nation. That’s another Oregon first that has spread across the nation and it has helped ease the suffering and pain of dying patients.

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Washington  State in 2008: Now, as we look to the future, The Death With Dignity National Center is dedicated to helping people in other states who wish to see a similar law in their homes As a national organization, we are working side-by-side with people working on the ground in Washington , including former Governor Booth Gardner, giving them the benefit of our experiences in a much more in-depth way than ever before.

Passing a Death With Dignity law in Washington is our number one priority in 2008, and we are already participating in those efforts in a very substantial way, both in terms of expertise and resources. Many of the people working on the Washington campaign now were supportive of our efforts in 1994 and 1997. Now, the DDNC is working alongside the groups and individuals to share our campaign experiences and help pave the way for a second state to enact Death With Dignity legislation at the ballot box.

To look at ten years of implementation as reported by the Oregon Health Division or look at a timeline of events since passage of the law, click on the websites below.

http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/faqs.shtml

http://www.deathwithdignity.org/news/news/aptimeline.08.29.05.asp

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