Death

Guardian -Oregon voters passed the state’s Death with Dignity Act in a 1994 referendum by a slim margin. Since then, more than 3,000 terminally ill people with just months to live have used the law to end their lives using a prescribed combination of lethal medications.Along the way, the Death with Dignity Act has survived a second referendum, an attempt to kill it in the US Congress and a challenge in the US supreme court.The number of people using the law to end their lives continues to grow each year, with 367 taking the fatal combination of drugs in 2023, less than 1% of deaths in Oregon. Support for assisted dying in the state has risen to the point where it is no longer a significant political issue.Eight US states and Washington DC now allow what is also known as physician-assisted dying along the lines of the Oregon law, and a dozen more are debating bills to legalise it. The legislation has influenced legislation in Australia and Canada, and features strongly in ongoing debates as the UK, France and Japan contemplate their own assisted-dying laws.But the law has not been without its challenges, including a reluctance by many doctors to sign off on requests by patients who want to end their lives.