X-Message-Number: 8970
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 15:01:11 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: Oregon update
from ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Monday Jan 5/98; 3:18 A.M. EST)
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SEATTLE RIGHT-TO-DIE GROUP PLANS MOVE INTO OREGON
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A Seattle organization that counsels the
terminally ill plans to move its headquarters to Oregon to help manage
requests to use the nation's only doctor-assisted suicide law.
Compassion in Dying, formed in 1993, had gone to the U.S. Supreme
Court to challenge New York and Washington state bans on assisted
suicide.
The court ruled in June there is no constitutional right to assisted
suicide but left room for states to grapple with banning or allowing
the practice.
Morton Yanow, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Seattle
and a right-to-die activist, says the cases made Compassion in Dying a
leader in the movement.
"Their image is really impeccable," Yanow said.
Barbara Coombs Lee, a nurse-turned-lawyer who heads Compassion in
Dying, helped draft Oregon's Death With Dignity Act.
The group plans to have a network of counselors in the Portland area
by March 1 and statewide as early as June 1.
The organization already has had inquiries about starting chapters
from right-to-die advocates in Alaska, New York, New Mexico, Arkansas,
Missouri and Vermont.
Opponents claim that Compassion in Dying will promote assisted suicide
in Oregon. But Lee says the state needs responsible stewards of the
law.
"Now that there is an area where that is a reality, it would seem
irresponsible to not bring our knowledge and our experience to that
place and offer it." Lee said.
By expanding, and focusing some of its efforts on legislative battles
for assisted suicide in other states, Compassion in Dying is following
in the footsteps and potentially stepping on the toes of the Hemlock
Society, the pioneering right-to-die organization with chapters in 48
states.
The Hemlock Society, founded in 1980, provides information about
voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill and has become a force in
state attempts to improve patient control over of end-of-life care.
"Any place where Compassion is there, we would utilize their
services," said Faye Girsh, executive director of Hemlock Society USA
in Denver. "We would refer our members to their office."
Right-to-die organizations say a few terminally ill patients have
started the process of obtaining lethal prescriptions under the law.
But some patients have said it is difficult to find a doctor willing
to participate because of fears of being exposed to publicity, being
sued by assisted-suicide opponents or being sanctioned by the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration for dispensing lethal drugs.
Compassion in Dying will give patients a list of doctors who are not
employed by the organization but have indicated their willingness to
participate in physician-assisted suicide.
The Oregon law requires that two doctors independently determine that
a patient has less than six months to live and is not being coerced.
They must refer a patient for psychological evaluation if the person's
judgment appears to be impaired by depression.
Compassion in Dying counselors will not provide the legally required
psychological evaluation or serve any other formal function under the
law.
The organization will, however, provide doctors with a list of the
types, amounts and sequence of drugs a patient could use to die.
Licensed counselors, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists
will work as volunteers. They will refer dying patients to hospice,
pain management specialists and other resources.
They also will help those who choose aid in dying to talk through
their feelings, discuss their decision with loved ones, understand
what to expect if they use a lethal prescription and, if requested, be
with patients when they take the lethal dosage.
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