dwd primer

I. WHO WE ARE

The mission of the Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) is to provide information, education, research and support for the preservation, implementation and promotion of the Oregon Death with Dignity law as a stimulus to nationwide improvements in end-of-life care and as a final option for dying individuals.

Since 1994, DDNC has fought to support and defend the Death with Dignity law - on the local ballot, in federal courts and in the halls of Congress. We are committed to choice and patient control at the end-of-life.

The Death with Dignity Center is affiliated with the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund (ODWD). Descriptions of both organizations and their work are below:

The Death with Dignity National Center, a 501 (c) 3 organization, is responsible for legal defense and public education. The Center works for the rights of all Americans to make well-informed decisions with their physicians and loved ones about their end-of-life care. We advocate for improved end-of-life care including improvements in pain management and palliative care.

This nonprofit work is funded by foundations and the generous support of individual tax-deductible contributions.

The Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund, a 501 (c) 4 organization (formerly Oregon Right to Die), is responsible for political and lobbying activities. The Fund is leading the national political fight to preserve Oregon's law and promote Oregon-style laws in other states. In 2000 we were part of a team that worked on a ballot initiative in Maine. In 2002 we worked in Hawai'i as the local legislature debated its own Death with Dignity bill. In 2003 we continued work with Hawai'i and began talking to Vermonters about DWD legislation.

We are eager to educate about how the Oregon law has served as a catalyst for healthcare reform and how it might serve as a model for other communities.

Our lobbying and public policy work is funded by individual political contributions from people like you.

Our Programs

Our priorities are the defense of the Oregon law and its replication in other states. Each day that the law is in effect contributes to the mounting evidence that this law is the catalyst for national end-of-life care reform. While we defend the law in the courtroom, we recognize that it is also crucial to galvanize public opinion through community grassroots organizing. With federal attacks from the Department of Justice and the ever-present threat of federal legislative intervention, it is imperative to build national networks of support.

The Death with Dignity Center has three distinct but complementary areas in which we do our work.

Defending Dignity - this program includes our litigation work as well as our national lobbying efforts and coalition building; since we worked to successfully pass Ballot Measure 16 (the Death with Dignity Act) in 1994, DDNC has prevailed in every legal and legislative challenge to the DWD law - including a repeal effort, two Congressional assaults and three years in federal court.

Mobilizing Dignity - this program is an umbrella for these discrete efforts:

1) Oregon + One: involves our work in other states and communities to advance Oregon-style legislation and replicate the Oregon model. In the past few years, we have worked with the citizens of Maine, Hawai'i and Vermont.

2) Network for Oregon: includes all of our efforts to bring together professionals who support choice at the end of life and are interested in reaching out to their colleagues and community on behalf of the issue.

One such effort is the Next Generation Project. This project, supported by a generous grant from the Educational Foundation of America is dedicated to bringing together in an educational forum, medical students interested in end-of-life issues. This recent project is based upon annual seminars DDNC has sponsored at Oregon Health & Science University since 1999.

3) Communications: efforts include our comprehensive website, email updates, The Dignity Report newsletter, our signature report, Improvements in End-of-Life Care, media outreach and other ancillary projects that aid in spreading the word about the Oregon model of end-of-life care.

These efforts include Voices of Vision, a program of the Teacher Learning Network. VOV is a new documentary series that profiles the people and organizations who are leaders in advocating for social change. The series is hosted by Scott Simon, an NPR, Peabody Award-winning journalist. In 2004, DDNC will be working with VOV to produce a piece on the Death with Dignity Movement.

Sustaining Dignity - this program includes all our work to create diverse financial and grassroots resources to ensure both organizational and movement longevity; in 2003 ODWD inaugurated its first ever annual fund in an effort to bring new people into the movement.

II. THE LAW

Oregon's Death with Dignity law is the first and only of its kind in the world – a physician-assisted dying law with critical safeguards that allows individuals to make the most important of life's decisions.

Here's a quick run down of what it does, what it doesn't do, and how the first five years have demonstrated that the law works.

What the Law Does Do

The Death with Dignity law allows Oregon residents to obtain medication from their physicians after two explicit oral requests and a written request have been made.

Key Facts

• At least two doctors must concur on diagnosis, prognosis and the patient's capability;
• The patient must provide a written request to their physician witnessed by two individuals who are not family members or primary caregivers;
• The patient must ultimately administer the prescription him/herself.

What the Law Doesn't Do

• Allow non-Oregonians to use the law;
• Allow anyone other than the patient to make the request;
• Allow euthanasia. The law explicitly prohibits euthanasia, which is typically defined as having someone other than the patient administer a life-ending medication.

Find out more information about the law's requirements and safeguards.

How the Law's Been Used

Annually, the Oregon Department of Human Services is required to report on the law's implementation. The numbers paint a clear picture of how the law is used: responsibly, modestly, and in line with what the Death with Dignity law's drafters advocated and predicted.

• In the first six years, 265 prescriptions were written – an average of 44 per year;
• However, far fewer have ultimately availed themselves of the law - 171 individuals since 1998;
• Of the patients who have opted for a hastened death, the vast majority were insured, died at home and had access to hospice care.

III. THE CHOICE

The facts speak to the successes of the balanced approach of the Death with Dignity law. Oregonians support the law, and increasingly, physicians and hospice organizations are supporting the law given its responsible implementation over its first five years.

But we're still in a tough battle with the U.S. Government about whether Oregonians can continue to have full, open conversations with their doctors and make crucial, informed decisions about their own end-of-life care.

What's at Stake?

Unfortunately, the basis on which the Oregon law is being challenged would have profound consequences not just for Oregon, but for all states. If Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department were successful, here's what it would mean:

• The only law in the country that allows individual patients, not the government, to make personal decisions with their doctor and loved ones about their end-of-life care needs would be voided;
• The federal government would have an opening to define "legitimate medical practice" for all 50 states;
• The over-turning of a twice-passed initiative by Oregon voters.

What We're Fighting For

• The right of all Americans to make well-informed decisions with their physicians and loved ones about their end-of-life care;
• Improved end-of-life care for all Americans, including improvements in pain management and palliative care.

Where We're Active

Of course, we're in Oregon, fighting to preserve the hard-won right of Oregon's Death with Dignity law. We're also in Washington, D.C., fighting to protect Oregon's law from Congress and the Justice Department. We have ongoing work in Maine, Hawai'i and Vermont.

We will continue fighting on behalf of choice and comfort at the end of life.

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