The Washington, D.C., Death With Dignity Act went into effect on June 6, 2017, authorizing the compassionate option of medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults to get a prescription they can take to end their life peacefully. Through our access campaign, Compassion & Choices continues to educate health care providers and residents of Washington, D.C., about medical aid in dying and the full breadth of end-of-life options.
We created a series of PSAs with Diane Rehm and Dr. Omega Silva to explain D.C.’s medical aid-in-dying law.
Compassion & Choices mourns the death on April 2, 2020, of Dr. Omega Silva, a retired Washington, D.C., physician who lived with three cancer diagnoses. She taught and practiced medicine for over 50 years in Washington DC and vicinity, she served as the first female president of the Howard University Medical Alumni Association and was…
Compassion & Choices today praised D.C. Health for releasing two years of reports today showing it is making progress in implementing the D.C. Death with Dignity Act, despite repeated congressional attempts to repeal the law since it took effect on Feb. 18, 2017. The D.C. Death with Dignity Act allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults…
This article originally ran in the Washington Post on December 25, 2018. You can read the original here. The government form lay on the dining room table in Mary Klein’s home in Northwest Washington. At the top, in bold letters, was a simple declaration: “REQUEST FOR MEDICATION TO END MY LIFE IN A HUMANE…
Compassion & Choices thanked the Senate for rejecting a policy rider today attached to a government funding bill approved on July 19 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which would repeal the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. The policy rider was part of the House-approved version of the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related…
Compassion & Choices elogió al Comité de Asignaciones del Senado por aprobar el jueves en la tarde un proyecto de ley gubernamental sin una cláusula adicional aprobada por el Comité de Asignaciones de la Cámara la semana pasada que derogaría la ley Death With Dignity o Ley Muerte con Dignidad del Distrito de Columbia. Sin…
The following article appeared in USA Today on June 25, 2018: Debbie Gatzek Kratter, a California attorney with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, wants to die on her own terms. She’s had chemotherapy treatment, but at a point, it will stop working. She doesn’t know if she’ll be able to. Under current California law, Kratter will…
The following article appeared in the Economist on April 26, 2018: THREE years ago John Radcliffe, a jovial retired lobbyist in Hawaii, was diagnosed with terminal stage four colon and liver cancer. He has since undergone 60 rounds of chemotherapy but doctors suspect he has just six more months to live. His illness often leaves…
(June 22, 2018) Compassion & Choices praised the Senate Appropriations Committee for approving a government funding bill on Thursday afternoon without a policy rider approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week that would repeal the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. However, the bill text was not posted online until this morning. The House policy…
(Washington, D.C. – June 14, 2018) Compassion & Choices urged Congress to reject a policy rider attached to a government funding bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee late Wednesday night that would repeal the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. The policy rider is part of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for…
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