Wednesday, February 25, 2026

More States Allowing Assisted Death

From the Washington Post: Oregon, the first state to enact an assisted-suicide law in 1997, extended the practice to nonresidents in 2023. Delaware, Illinois and New York legalized assisted suicide in recent months. And at least 15 states are expected to weigh similar legislation this year, although it is permitted only when people are terminally ill with just six months or less to live. They also must be mentally competent — disqualifying anyone with advanced dementia — and be able to ingest the prescribed life-ending drugs on their own. Other countries, including Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, have made the practice even more readily available, allowing doctors to administer lethal injections to patients who doctors say face unremitting suffering with no hope of improvement, whether death is imminent or not. As I noted ten years ago in the HuffPost, "Baby boomers have spent more than half a century revolutionizing the way we live. Now it is time for us to revolutionize the way we die."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.