On Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017, DC became the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS), following Colorado (2016), California (2015), Vermont (2013), Montana (2009), Washington (2008), and Oregon (1994).
Death with Dignity Act of 2015 (later renamed to reflect the 2016 passage), was introduced by DC Councilmember Mary Cheh (D) on Jan. 14, 2015 and signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Dec. 19, 2016. The law is based on Oregon’s law, as are most PAS laws in the United States. It legalizes a process that authorizes physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally-ill adult residents of DC who want the option to end their lives. Before residents can obtain the lethal medication, they must meet residency and other requirements, be examined by two different doctors, and make two oral requests and one written requests for the aid-in-dying medication.
(via Physician-Assisted Suicide Legalized in DC - ProCon.org)
Source: procon.org
