Sooah Choe Negative: Abuses Abuses: There’s Nothing Progressive About Physician-Assisted Suicide Hale, C. J. (2015, October 14). There's Nothing Progressive About Physician-Assisted Suicide. Retrieved January 12, 2016, from http://time.com/4068423/physician-assisted-suicide/ In 1997, Oregon passed physician-assisted-suicide law, which has been the model legislation for five states. Many residents in Oregon qualify for assisted-suicide drugs, but they do not qualify for basic treatments or even hospice care under Medicare and Medicaid. For an example, in 2008, Oregon resident Barbara Wagner was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and was seeking chemotherapy. The Oregon Health Plan office refused to pay $4,000 per month because it wasn’t within …show more content…
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that PAD is not necessarily unconstitutional, leaving each state to settle the issue for its residents. Many states were against PAD and made laws in their states that made it illegal. Unlike other states in 1997, Oregon decided to legalize PAD through vote and become the first state that legalized PAD in the U.S. During the three years after this legalization, only 91 people opted for assisted suicide out of 90,000 who died in Oregon during that time. Following Oregon, four other states (Washington, Montana, Vermont, and California) adopted PAD in their states through legislation or …show more content…
Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning physician-assisted-suicide do not violate the constitution in Washington v. Glucksberg case. The court left the matter of the constitutionality of a right to a physician’s aid in dying to the states. On October 27, 1997, Oregon passed Death with Dignity Act with 51% voters in favor. November 1998, American pathologist and PAD advocate Jack Kevorkian videotaped the death of Thomas Youk and it broadcasted on CBS’s 60 Minutes. November 4, 2008, Washington passed Death with Dignity Act with 57.91% of voters in favor. May 20, 2013, Vermont signs the Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act into law. November 1, 2015, Brittany Marynard, a 29 year-old woman diagnosed with terminal brain cancer moved to Oregon from California to end her life. October 5, 2015, California governor signs End of Life Option Act, which legalized PAD for Californians with terminal