RSSGuest Commentary: San Francisco Chronicle on Assisted Suicide
By None, The Ridgecrest Daily Independent, Jan. 23, 2006
Making decisions over life and death is never easy, or comfortable.
But in 1994, the people of Oregon voted for the Death with Dignity Act - the only one of its kind in the nation - empowering terminally ill patients to make that decision for themselves.
Both the Bush administration and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged the state's law and invoked an unrelated federal drug law to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.
But on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rightly decided, with a 6-3 ruling, to uphold Oregon's assisted-suicide law.
"The court's decision today is perhaps driven by a feeling that the subject of assisted suicide is none of the federal government's business," wrote a dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia. "It is easy to sympathize with that position."
The idea of allowing doctors - or anyone - to help end one's life has, understandably, outraged many Americans. But it is a decision that must be made by an individual, not by the government.
Oregon's law includes rigorous safeguards, ensuring a thoughtful and reflective process between patients and their doctor before making the deeply personal decision.
Still, critics argue that the law will encourage an easy way out for patients. There's nothing easy about death, as evidenced by the small number of people who have used the law to end their lives. In Oregon, where the law has been in effect since 1998, about a third of the 325 people who requested lethal drugs never used them.
In this complicated case, where politics and religion have created a passionate debate, the government should remember who's really involved -- real people with terminal illnesses who, through this law, can find some sense of peace and comfort in knowing that they have a choice.
The Supreme Court recognized that the government has no place at the bedside of terminally ill Americans who have made firm decisions on the level of care they will or will not receive in their final days.
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For more than 14 years, the Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC), a 501(c)(3), non-partisan, non-profit organization, has been the leading advocate in the death with dignity movement. Leaders in our organization originally wrote and have continued advocating for the Oregon Death with Dignity Law. DDNC has met these challenges through extensive legal defense of the Oregon law, education and outreach programs, and by developing and nurturing diverse financial resources with one goal in mind: to ensure DDNC's financial vitality and its position as a leader in the death with dignity movement.
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The Death with Dignity National Center partners with the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund (the Fund) to conduct lobbying and political activities in order to achieve the enactment of Death with Dignity laws in other states. The partnership resulted in tremendous success with the resounding win in the 2008 Washington Death with Dignity campaign.
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About Death with Dignity
The greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one's own desires and beliefs. The most common desire among those with a terminal illness is to die with some measure of dignity. From advance directives to physician-assisted dying, death with dignity is a movement to provide options for the dying to control their own end-of-life care.
Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) is the leader in this movement, successfully establishing, advancing and defending the landmark Oregon Death with Dignity Act -- a national catalyst for openly discussing and actively reforming end-of-life care for those who are terminally ill.
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The Death with Dignity National Center was formed out of a profound commitment to the idea that personal end-of-life decisions should be made solely between a patient and a physician. Based on this commitment, we are pleased to provide you with support and information as you face the difficult challenges ahead.
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In our Research Center you will find frequently asked questions, the history of the death with dignity movement, state monitoring statistics, and a copy of this groundbreaking statute.
