Initiative 1000 would let patients get help ending their lives | Seattle Times Newspaper

It is called many things: "physician-assisted suicide", "death with dignity", and others. Regardless of what it is called, the law in Oregon that lets doctors prescribe lethal doses of drugs to patients that are terminally ill and wish to end their lives before enduring a long and painful illness, has created a lot of controversy. This November Washington State voters will have the opportunity to vote on a law very similar to Oregon's assisted suicide law.

It is also an excellent case study in conflicting constitutional values. Does a limited government have the right to tell a terminally ill person how they should or should not end their lives? Should inidivdual rights win out over concerns about promoting a "culture of life" and preventing possible abuses of the law by greedy relatives that stand to inherit money? Or is opposing this law what would further the common good?

The Seattle Times did an excellent job of reporting on this initiative in their Sunday paper. Check it out.

Initiative 1000 would let patients get help ending their lives Seattle Times Newspaper