March 18, 2008--The 10th annual report confirms the safety and effectiveness of Oregon's landmark Death with Dignity Act. Death with Dignity’s many strict safeguards ensure the law does not unfairly target the poor, disabled or minority populations. Everyone who used the law in 2007 was mentally competent and within six months of death.

More Oregon terminally ill patients chose to use the state’s Death with Dignity Act this year than ever before, according to a report released today by the Oregon Department of Human Services.  As in all previous years, many more people requested the lethal medication than used the prescriptions.

Of the 85 patients who requested and received life-ending medications in 2007, only 46 actually administered the medication to achieve a peaceful death. An additional three took medications prescribed prior to 2007. This is equivalent to 15.6 deaths from aid in dying per every 10,000 total deaths in Oregon. Since it was passed in 1997, 341 people have used the Death with Dignity law to end their lives.

A decade of data, along with studies by the State of Oregon and independent researchers, show that the law has greatly improved end-of-life care for all Oregonians.

“The reports each year have found that all dying patients in the state of Oregon have benefited from the improved care of physicians and health care providers as measured by clinical standards, the experience of hospice nurses, increased use of medical morphine, increased referrals to hospice and the second-lowest rates of in-hospital deaths and the second-highest rates of home deaths in the nation,” said Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee. “None of opponents’ predicted problems have come true. To the contrary, Oregon is ranked second in the nation in quality care at the end-of-life. We urge other states to adopt similar laws.”

Read the report.

Jan. 9, 2008--Today, Compassion & Choices announced it is working with former Gov. Booth Gardner on an important campaign to pass an Oregon-style aid-in-dying law in Washington State.

A broad coalition of Compassion & Choices affiliates, physicians, nurses, hospice patients, organizations and concerned residents is proposing an initiative for the 2008 ballot. This measure will give tremendous peace of mind to terminally ill patients who face the prospect of intolerable suffering.  Specifically, this initiative would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults in Washington State with six months or less to live the legal choice to access and self-administer life-ending medication under strict medical supervision.

"Oregon’s experience proves legalizing aid in dying brings hope and comfort to the terminally ill, whether they ever use it or not,” said Barbara Coombs Lee, President of Compassion & Choices. “Washingtonians deserve the same. Freedom of conscience is fundamental to our nation’s greatness. To die in accordance with ones deepest beliefs is surely part of that freedom.”

The initiative would:

• Allow patients with no hope of recovery the choice to end their life on their own terms. Currently our state restricts the legal freedom of terminally ill patients who face a lingering and painful death from making this compassionate, legitimate end-of-life choice.

• Give terminally ill adults the right to end their suffering. When facing the prospect of agonizing pain or loss of dignity at the end of life, patients should be able to make a legal choice to request, receive, and self-administer medication to die on their own terms.

• Require effective safeguards. To participate, a patient must undergo a waiting period, self-administer the oral medication and be: 1) at least 18 years old and a Washington State resident, 2) mentally capable of making and communicating health care decisions, and 3) within six months of death. Two physicians determine whether these criteria have been met.

• Mirror Oregon's "Death with Dignity" Act. Voters in Oregon passed an identical law by initiative ten years ago. The text of the Washington initiative is based on the sound Oregon law.

To qualify the "Death with Dignity" initiative for the November ballot, over 100,000 signatures need to be collected by volunteers by June 30, 2008.  At least 3,000 volunteers are needed across the state to cover shifts at stores every week and gather signatures from friends and family.

If you would like to help with the campaign, please contact the political action committee It's My Decision directly at:

It's My Decision Committee
PO Box 21984
Seattle, WA 98111
Phone: (206) 633-2008
campaign@itsmydecision.org

Sept. 18, 2007--Today Compassion & Choices launched an expanded End-of-Life Consultation program in California. The program will help terminal patients to access hospice, pain treatment, information on aid in dying options and other excellent end-of-life care.

Volunteers, clergy members and terminal patients spoke in four major cities, pledging their support for the consultation program.

“People of different faiths all agree that life is sacred and worthy of respect and preservation as long as possible,” said Rev. Ignacio Castuera, minister of Trinity United Methodist Church in Pomona, Calif., who spoke at the Los Angeles event. “However, when death is imminent, it is entirely respectful to the sanctity of life to allow a person to decide for himself or herself when and how they can ease their pain and suffering in a dignified manner.”

Compassion & Choices launched the program after Assembly Bill 374 became paralyzed in the Legislature in June. Legislators abandoned their constituents and dying patients who pleaded with them for the legal choice of a peaceful death.

“Dying patients cannot wait for politicians to catch up to their needs,” said Compassion & Choices President Barbara Lee. “We will do our utmost to ensure that no one who comes to us will suffer in their dying, or choose a violent course, or die without loved ones present because they have no other choice. The End of Life Consultation service is a way to avoid tragedies that are 100 percent preventable. We proclaim that aid in dying is neither secret nor shameful.”

Compassion & Choices stood up where lawmakers fell down, offering people legal alternatives to the unsavory, ineffective choices they have.

“The murky legal landscape that keeps aid in dying covert and clandestine leaves caring families trapped between participating in a criminal activity and abandoning their loved ones, just as anti-abortion laws did 40 years ago,” said Rev. Howard Moody. Moody, who helped found the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion 40 years ago, spoke at the conferences via telephone from New York City.

The Compassion & Choices End-of-Life Consultation promises to make every effort to ensure that no one who comes to us will suffer in their dying, choose a violent course, or die alone, without loved ones present because they have no other choice.

To access to End-of-Life Consultation program, please call 800.247.7421.