Canadian family sues after Catholic hospital prolongs their daughter's suffering

Despite chemotherapy and radiation, her disease was terminal, and the pain quickly became overwhelming. She wanted to end life on her own terms. 

But in Canada, where that procedure is legal, the taxpayer-funded Catholic hospital she was at still wouldn't allow it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCRvPFJYZko

How Oregon’s right-to-die law has inspired other US states and countries

"I voted twice against the law, but once it went into effect and I saw how it worked, I changed my mind," said Jackson, the former chief executive of the Oregon Hospice Association. 

 "I really thought that if everyone had hospice care, they wouldn't need this, which was very arrogant of me because hospice is something where others decide. One of the things that really bothers me is the idea that doctors should decide when to allow you to die. That is just awful. I came to realise this is about choice. Someone should be able to decide for themselves when to die."… 

 More broadly, Oregon's law has forced a greater focus on how people die, with doctors and medical institutions paying closer attention to palliative care and reducing suffering toward the end of life. It has also contributed to the rapid expansion of hospice care…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/26/oregon-right-to-die-law

Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge to Aid-in-Dying Laws - The Daily Beast

In Colorado case, the right to aid a cancer patient's death runs up against faith-based hospital policies.....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/firing-doctor-christian-hospital-sets-off-national-challenge-to-aid-in-dying-laws

Medical aid in dying laws in Washington, D.C., California spark debate

Debbie Gatzek Kratter, a California attorney with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, wants to die on her own terms. She's had chemotherapy treatment, but at a point, it will stop working. She doesn't know if she'll be able to.....

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/25/washington-dc-california-medical-aid-dying-physician-assisted-suicide/713546002/

California assisted death law overturned in court | The Sacramento Bee

A judge in Riverside County on Tuesday overturned California's controversial assisted death law nearly two years after it took effect, ruling that the Legislature improperly passed the measure during a special session on health care funding.....

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article211195824.html

This Couple Died By Assisted Suicide Together. Here’s Their Story - TIME

On the last morning of their lives, Charlie and Francie Emerick held hands. The Portland, Ore., couple, married for 66 years and both terminally ill, died together in their bed April 20, 2017, after taking lethal doses of medication obtained under the state's Death with Dignity law. ....
http://time.com/5179977/assisted-suicide-couple-death/

Aid-in-dying advocates target next battleground states -- CNN

Will efforts to expand the practice to Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii succeed this year?....
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/25/health/aid-in-dying-battleground-states/index.html

Indiana Lawmaker Proposes "Death With Dignity" Bill - 44News | Evansville, IN 44News | Evansville, IN

Whether you call it physician-assisted suicide, death with dignity, or the right to die there’s no escaping the controversy this issue carries.....
http://44news.wevv.com/indiana-lawmaker-proposes-death-dignity-bill/

Efforts to Improve The Way We Die (Diane Rehm Show )

Diane speaks with Dr. Roger Kligler who is living with advanced stage cancer and is suing the state of Massachusetts for right to access to prescription medication which would allow him to die peacefully in his sleep. Then, a conversation with intensive and palliative care specialist Dr. Jessica Zitter on how better communication between patients and their doctors can help people avoid pointless and often painful medical interventions as they come to the end of their lives...
Interview:
http://wamu.org/story/17/02/17/efforts-to-improve-the-way-we-die/

Utahn Pledges To Block D.C.'s 'Death With Dignity' Law : DCist

In addition to announcing that he'd like to "Divest DC" of its federal agencies and move them outside the region, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Ut.) also announced a plan yesterday to block the District's recently passed right-to-die bill. The chairman of the House committee that oversees the District of Columbia said he will introduce a disapproval resolution (which any member of Congress can do) to block the passage of the “Death with Dignity Act of 2015.”...
http://dcist.com/2017/01/utahn_pledges_to_block_dcs_death_wi.php

Secular Coalition Urges Chaffetz Not to Disrupt Death with Dignity Law

The Secular Coalition for America released a statement today blasting Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) for announcing his intention to block the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. Chaffetz, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that oversees District of Columbia affairs, said he will introduce a disapproval resolution this month....
https://www.secular.org/news/secular-coalition-urges-chaffetz-not-disrupt-death-dignity-law

Colorado Voters Accept Right-To-Die Measure

Colorado became the sixth state to pass a measure allowing terminally ill patients to obtain life-ending medications. The ballot measure allows adults with six months or less to live the option to obtain prescription medication from a doctor and administer it themselves. The measure passed with about 65 percent of the vote, according to The Denver Post....
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/09/501476275/colorado-voters-accept-right-to-die-measure?ft=nprml&f=1001

B.C. man faced excruciating transfer after Catholic hospital refused assisted-death request

Ian Shearer had had enough of the pain and wanted a quick, peaceful end, his life marred by multiple afflictions. But the Vancouver man’s family says his last day alive became an excruciating ordeal after the Catholic-run hospital caring for him rebuffed his request for a doctor-assisted death, forcing him to transfer to another hospital. The combination of the cross-town trip and inadequate pain control left Shearer, 84, in agony through most of his final hours, says daughter Jan Lackie.

“To hear him crying out, screaming … was just horrible,” said Lackie, breaking into tears as she recalled the day in late August. “That’s what keeps me from sleeping at night … I don’t want any other person to go through what he did.”...
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/faced+excruciating+transfer+after+catholic+hospital/12230669/story.html

Californians With Terminal Illness Now Have The Right To Die On Their Own Terms

California’s new right-to-die law went into effect Thursday, allowing terminally ill patients to choose to end their own lives.

“Simply having the option of medical aid in dying and the ability to shorten an unbearable dying process provides great peace of mind to terminally ill people and to their families,” Stanford Medicine physician Catherine Sonquist Forest told reporters Wednesday.

Under the End of Life Option Act, which passed last year, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live can obtain a prescription for a lethal dose of medication....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-right-to-die_us_57583de8e4b0e39a28ac1e27