District of Columbia Mayor Muriel E. Bowser quietly approved legislation making the District the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives legally. The legislation is modeled after the nation’s first physician-assisted suicide law, enacted in Oregon. Voters have approved similar laws in Washington state and Colorado, as have as the legislatures of Vermont and California. The practice is considered legal in Montana because of a court ruling. The DC law will allow doctors to prescribe fatal medication to patients with less than six months to live. Patients must make two requests over a period of two weeks and ingest the drugs themselves. It is unclear whether the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will exercise its power to overturn the new law. Read more here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/bowser-quietly-signs-legislation-allowing-terminally-ill-patients-to-end-their-lives/2016/12/20/2b68dda6-c6ca-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.12173670915c&wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1
DC Enacts Physician-assisted Suicide Law
December 20, 2016District of Columbia Mayor Muriel E. Bowser quietly approved legislation making the District the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives legally. The legislation is modeled after the nation’s first physician-assisted suicide law, enacted in Oregon. Voters have approved similar laws in Washington state and Colorado, as have as the legislatures of Vermont and California. The practice is considered legal in Montana because of a court ruling. The DC law will allow doctors to prescribe fatal medication to patients with less than six months to live. Patients must make two requests over a period of two weeks and ingest the drugs themselves. It is unclear whether the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will exercise its power to overturn the new law. Read more here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/bowser-quietly-signs-legislation-allowing-terminally-ill-patients-to-end-their-lives/2016/12/20/2b68dda6-c6ca-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.12173670915c&wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1
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