X-Message-Number: 3408
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 94 20:12 EST
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: CRYONICS Oregon Right to Die Measure

In my next post I provide the text of Measure 16, the Oregon
Death with Dignity Act, which was passed by voters last week. 
The post is approximately 17.5K in size.  The passage of Measure
16 offers an opportunity and a challenge to cryonics
organizations.  
 
Measure 16 allows terminally ill patients in Oregon to request a
physician to prescribe a lethal medication, subject to the
following conditions:  the patient must be certified by two
physicians as being terminally ill (i.e. as having a prognosis of
death within six months); the patient must be competent to make
the request directly (not by a power of attorney); there is a 15-
day waiting period; the patient must be physically able to take
the prescribed medication himself (nobody else, including the
physician, can administer it); the physician must be sympathetic,
since physicians are not required to grant the request; and the
patient must be a resident of Oregon.  I have been informed that
registered voters in Oregon meet this requirement, and that the
residency requirement for registering to vote in Oregon is 30
days (this information was supplied to me by the Hemlock Society,
which is, not coincidentally, headquartered in Oregon).  One
caution:  there might be a 30-day window before an election
during which one could not become registered to vote.
 
The 30-day residency requirement plus the 15-day waiting period
(I don't think you can overlap these) means that if one had a
couple of months notice, it should be possible to relocate to
Oregon and arrange for a cryonics standby under controlled
conditions.  Section 4.01(1) should specifically exempt the
standby team from any liability.  There are many problems, of
course, not the least of which would be finding a sympathetic
doctor.  It may also be difficult to avoid a backlash on the part
of either the public or the bureaucracy.  There should be no risk
of autopsy, but one would need to make sure that the coroner
would not cause trouble.
 
It seems to me that cryonics organizations should start working
immediately to establish contacts in Oregon (e.g. find
sympathetic physicians, etc.).  Any cryonics organization that
offers an "Oregon standby," where the time of death can be
controlled for the first time, may well have a competitive
advantage, as well as a lot of publicity (with its attendant
risks).
 
Another step toward freedom and immortality.


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