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. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3408