Week 42/2015 in the Death with Dignity Movement

In the week from October 12 to October 18, 2015:

• The passage of the California End of Life Option Act reverberated across the country.
• The Death with Dignity movement suffered a great loss: our dear friend Dick Walters, who led the effort in Vermont to pass the Death with Dignity law in 2013, died on October 16 using medications prescribed under the law. Read more →

California

• “Education Push to Help Doctors Field Patients’ Assisted-Death Requests,” KQED, 10/12/2015
• “Is doctor-assisted death suicide? Advocates say no,” San Diego Union Tribune, 10/13/2015
• “California’s sweeping new social policies could set trend,” Christian Science Monitor via Associated Press, 10/13/2015
• “Timm Herdt: The power of a story bravely told,” Ventura County Star, 10/13/2015
• “California’s Legislature Is Making Progressive Milestones,” WKBW, 10/13/2015
• “Pro-Choice to the End ,” The Bohemian, 10/14/2015
• “Capitol Journal Gov. Brown shows his contrarian side in bills he signed and vetoed,” Los Angeles Times, 10/15/2015
• “Life or death: An important moment for the assisted suicide movement,” Daily Californian, 10/16/2015

Florida

• “Florida should pursue ‘death with dignity’,” Florida Sun Sentinel, 10/12/2015
• “Our state must legalize physician-assisted suicide: My Word,” Orlando Sentinel, 10/18/2015

New York

• “NY supporters hope for Calif. ‘aid-in-dying’ boost,” WGRZ, 10/12/2015
• “Allow terminally ill to end their intolerable suffering,” Albany Times Union, 10/13/2015
• “Point-Counter Point: ‘Aid-in-dying’ bill in New York?,” Lohud, 10/15/2015

Vermont

• “Leader behind Vermont aid-in-dying law uses it, ends life,” Associated Press, 10/16/2015
• “Richard ‘Dick’ Walters, Leader Behind Vermont’s Right to Die Movement, Ends Life,” People, 10/16/2015

Elsewhere

• Arizona: “Survey shows Arizona doctors would support physician-assisted suicide,” Phoenix Business Journal, 10/12/2015
• Colorado: “The time for Colorado to pass 
right-to-die legislation is now,” Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 10/14/2015
• Connecticut: “Aid-in-dying idea remains on radar,” West Hartford News via CT Junkie, 10/14/2015
• District of Columbia: “‘Death with dignity’ backers see momentum for D.C. bill,” The Northwest Current, 10/7/2015
• Maryland: “It’s time to start talking about assisted death in MD,” WMDT/ABC, 10/13/2015
• Minnesota: “The state needs right-to-die laws,” Minnesota Daily, 10/12/2015
• North Carolina: “Death with dignity: My mother deserved the right to choose,” Greensboro News & Record, 10/18/2015

Other Stories

• “Referring to this infant civil right as suicide is defensible but, at the end of the night, needlessly brutal. Let’s kill it.” “Is doctor-assisted death suicide? Advocates say no,” San Diego Union Tribune, 10/12/2015
• “The hypocrisy of wanting the state to stay out of people’s lives, and yet opposing the right of others to make their own choices.” “Whose Bodies Should Government Control?,” The Atlantic, 10/15/2015
• “Here’s Who Uses Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act,” U.S. News & World Report, 10/16/2015

Image by Matt Hintsa.