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Assisted Suicide Initiative on November Ballot
Category: Right-To-Die · State: Washington · Source: KIMA-TV Yakima
Oregonians legalized assisted suicide a decade ago. Now, Washington may be the second state in the country to allow terminal patients to expedite their death. "I suppose if they made you a zombie, that they could take away all your humanity in order to relieve you of pain, put you in a coma practically," said Ginger Vetrano, who gathered signatures around the Tri-Cities to put the initiative on the ballot. Initiative 1000, better known as "Death With Dignity," boils down to a sick person's right to choose when he or she wants to die. It would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal prescription to patients with six months or less to live. "It's something I would want for myself and my mother and anybody else I loved," said Vetrano. If it passed, two doctors would have to independently verify that the patient is mentally competent to make the decision, and that no one has coerced him or her to choose to die early. Vetrano says it's a question of choice. "I think we're all autonomous people," she said. "I wouldn't want to make the decision for you, and I hope you wouldn't want to make the decision for me."
Right-to-Die Initiative Making Its Way to State Ballot
Category: Right-To-Die · State: Washington · Source: Wenatchee World
Washington voters will find themselves at the center of a national right-to-die debate this year if Initiative 1000, modeled on Oregon's Death With Dignity law, makes it onto the November ballot. The campaign turned in nearly 320,000 signatures July 2, far more than the 225,000 valid signatures it needs to qualify. Already, out-of-state money is pouring into the campaign to pass the measure, including $315,000 so far from the Death With Dignity National Center, a Portland-based group that seeks to see the Oregon law replicated in other states. So far, the campaign has raised $1,124,000.
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