Posted on 01/10/2009 10:19:38 AM PST by wagglebee
Advocates of the new Washington law that will soon allow terminally ill patients to end their lives through lethal drugs expect Oregon's near-identical law to account for a record 55 deaths there in 2008.
A "very small number of people" probably will seek to use the law in its first year in Washington, said Robb Miller, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Washington, the state affiliate of the Portland-based group that advocates for what it calls "aid in dying."
Washington's Death With Dignity Act will take effect March 5. Washington voters approved Initiative 1000 to legalize the law in November. Washington would be the second state after Oregon to allow what opponents call "physician-assisted suicide."
Under the law, doctors could prescribe -- but not administer -- a lethal dose of medication if requested by Washington residents given six months or less to live.
The state Department of Health will hold a public hearing Feb. 10 on draft rules to implement the law, including reporting requirements for health care providers and the qualifications of witnesses for patients in long-term care facilities who make written requests for aid in dying.
Deaths attributed to Oregon's law in its first decade totaled 341, an average of 34 a year, with a high of 49 in 2007. Compassion & Choices volunteers have served as witnesses to deaths in about 85 percent of the cases.
The organization sees itself as the "steward of the law" and the "advocate and counselor" for those wishing to use the law in Washington, said Miller, one of several Compassion & Choices leaders who spoke Friday to reporters in Seattle.
About 40 of the deaths in Oregon involved patients whose doctors worked at hospitals, usually Catholic-run, that opposed aid in dying on moral grounds, said George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon. (For the same reason, some pharmacists will not fill lethal prescriptions.)
In those cases, the doctors had to go away from the hospital during their off-duty hours to prescribe the lethal drugs, Eighmey said.
To avoid those hurdles, Miller and Eighmey said patients considering aid in dying at some point should not wait to find out their doctors' positions.
"The time for conversation is now," Miller said.
No, they are vultures.
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The DemocRATS’ Culture of Death.
I'd laugh if their attempt at obfuscation were not so nauseating.
How about "Kill 'em All" instead?
Compassion and Choices is the new name for the Hemlock Society.
I'd laugh if their attempt at obfuscation were not so nauseating.
How about "Kill 'em All" instead?
The culture of death has a long history of twisting words to sterilize their agenda:
The Gates of Auschwitz: "Work Makes One Free"
Oregon must be populated with insane people.
Prayer for the souls of these dead and their families. What a sad decision with which to be confronted.
The name "Hemlock Society" was another example of the culture of death manipulating words to fit their agenda.
Socrates DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE, his EXECUTION was the forced ingestion of hemlock.
On second thought, maybe the name is correct, they are executing the innocent.
A person does not need to involve the medical community to help them commit suicide. I’m sure there are many creative ways to pull it off. Just leave the rest of us alone.
Don’t forget Washington state, they voted overwhelmingly to adopt the same policy.
On this I’m a libertarian. If people want to, I say go ahead. Much better than jumping off a building and messing up the street, causing an accident, etc.
However, in a certain state, ie really old or terminal, people may be influenced by family members or doctors who have ulterior motives other than wanting to end the person’s pain.
In a country where church and state are separated, how dare anyone make a decision that violates the teachings of a Roman mystery cult!
Absolute examples of MSM brainwashing. The tsunami coming soon will just overwhelm the systm. They will have to learn the Hari-Kari. These bafoons will not be able to afford the assisted suicide rate. This depression will drain the funding.
No. He was sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of the young.
Obviously I meant to write YES. Sorry, haven’t been to bed yet. :P
I have a Catholic relative that lives in Dr. Kervorkian’s Michigan neighborhood.
Shortly after Kerviokian was jailed for assisted suicide, she told me: “Everyone thinks what he was doing wrong, but no-one wants to see him punished.”
Wow! Your hatred of the Catholic Church has truly blinded you.
Perhaps you can give us the name of just one Christian denomination that has historically (not some group that has adopted heresy in the past generation or so) supported suicide. Can you do that, can you you name ONE?
Oregon; good for nothing but rain and suicide.
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