Life and Death in Washington

[August 27th, 2008] -2122

As supporters of a “Death With Dignity” initiative work to pass their measure this November in Washington state, they’re looking to the one place in America with experience on the hot-button issue—Oregon.

They already found both a template for their effort and financial support in getting Initiative 1000 on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Likewise, Initiative 1000 opponents are also looking to Oregon for help by collecting information about how the law has played out here, and collecting donations.

“Oregon and Washington are very similar in terms of their philosophies and their electorate,’’ says Anne Martens, communications director for Yes On 1000. “We’re both independent states, and we both like to make decisions for ourselves and keep the government out of it.’’

More than a decade after Oregon passed its Death with Dignity Act, it remains the only state to let terminally ill residents end their lives through voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose. By the end of 2007, 341 terminally ill Oregonians had ended their lives under the act—or an average of about 34 a year since the law took effect in late 1997.

With the help of Oregon’s Death With Dignity supporters, the Washington initiative mirrors Oregon’s law by containing safeguards that have already survived court review. One such example: Two physicians must determine that patients are terminally ill with six months or less to live, that patients can make healthcare decisions for themselves, and that patients be informed of feasible alternatives, such as hospice care and pain control.

On the money side, the pro-1000 campaign in Washington has collected $373,790 to date from Oregon donors, 23 percent of the $1.61 million it has raised so far, Martens said. Much of that Oregon money—$315,000—has come from the political arm of the Portland-based Death With Dignity National Center.

Other Oregon-based organizations and Oregonians working with Initiative 1000 organizers include the nonprofit Compassion & Choices and its leader, Barbara Coombs Lee, as well as Portland lawyer Eli Stutsman, who played a major role in passage of the Oregon law and defending it in court.

Initiative 1000 opponents have consulted with Oregonians such as Kenneth Stevens, a retired radiation oncologist and a former professor at Oregon Health & Science University, and William Toffler, a family medicine specialist and professor at OHSU.

Patricia O’Halloran, a Tacoma physician and member of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, says Oregon doctors have given the coalition information about what she calls problems that have emerged in Oregon’s experience over the past decade. She says those include problems distinguishing to what degree depression plays a role in a patient’s decision to ask for lethal medication and the impact of the Oregon act on the patient-physician relationship.

“It is helpful to talk to some doctors down there to get a sense of how the law is playing out,” O’Halloran says.

To date, out of 290 individual donors to the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, fewer than 10 have come from Oregon. Most have been small contributions, with the biggest, $5,000, coming from the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, according to coalition spokeswoman Cynthia Ulrich.

The archdiocese worked to stop passage of the law in Oregon and wants to try to do the same in Washington.

“Based upon our past experiences,” says archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce, “the archdiocese chose to make a modest contribution to the Washington State Catholic Conference to assist their efforts in preventing passage of such an initiative in Washington.”