Foreword
In November 1994, 51 percent of Oregon voters approved the Death With Dignity Act by ballot initiative, making it the first State in the Nation to allow physicians to assist terminally ill patients in ending their own lives.The Oregon law created a carefully regulated process for the prescription of life-ending drugs, such as barbiturates and morphine, to patients with less than six months to live. Under the law, a patient must be of sound mind, have made two requests for life-ending drugs separated by 15 days, have had his or her condition verified by a second physician, and have been…
