The US’s first Death with Dignity Act, which authorizes the practice of medical aid in dying, co-authored by Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee, was affirmed by an Oregon ballot initiative in 1994. Barbara was the chief spokesperson for this monumental law through two statewide campaigns, in 1994 and 1997.
On July 13 2023, Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 2279, bipartisan legislation introduced by the Oregon Health Authority to repeal the residency restriction in the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. The bill took effect immediately, making Oregon the second state after Vermont to remove this requirement.
The power of personal stories to inspire and drive change is undeniable. Everyone has a story, and we invite you to share yours.
On October 27, 1997, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act — the first law in America of its kind — went into effect, allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives in a more gentle manner than their diseases might allow and setting the precedent for all laws of its kind that have followed. Compassion &…
For more than 20 years, former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts has advocated for choice at the end of life. Her husband, late State Senator Frank Roberts, introduced the Oregon Death with Dignity Act three times in the state Legislature before cancer claimed his life in 1993. A year later citizens passed the law by ballot initiative…
For nearly two decades Susan Woods of Portland, Oregon, has supported Compassion & Choices as a donor and now a lifetime member. Retired from her career as a pediatric physical therapist working with children challenged by disabilities such as cerebral palsy and spina bifida, she answered a call for volunteers in C&C’s Portland office in…
(Portland, OR – Jan. 14, 2016) Thirteen public interest organizations have written Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum urging her to reject a request for a waiver from the standard process for reviewing merger transactions by the nation’s 6th largest nonprofit hospital system, Providence Health & Services, and St. Joseph Health. “This proposed transaction involves eight hospitals across Oregon, and…
Pam Wald didn’t know much about aid in dying until her husband, Ben, suffering from lung and bone cancer, requested it. “He was in excruciating pain, down to 118 pounds. He just said, ‘I’m not getting better, Pam.’ I thought, ‘Okay, well maybe tomorrow.’ I was holding out hope for some miracle. Of course, that…
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