2009 Washington and 2008 Oregon passed laws allowing choice of patient
Portland, Oregon (CNN) — James Powell could barely speak on the day he died; cancer had confined him to bed and heavy painkillers left him only semi-lucid. Yet the mood was almost celebratory as 25 people — family, friends and volunteers — gathered in a large living room to tell stories and say goodbye on the day Powell chose to end his suffering.
« After he took the medication, he fell asleep really quickly. His body just relaxed. He went into deep snoring. There were tears, but also it felt like a real family gathering of support, » his daughter Katy, 61, remembers. « After he died you could pretty much feel the spirit kind of lift in the room. Thank goodness he’s free of that horrible suffering and pain. »
Powell, who died at age 82 in 2008, had worked to pass Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, a law enacted in 1997 that allows terminally ill patients to choose to end their own lives with lethal medications. A similar law was passed in 2009 in Washington. In Montana, the state supreme court ruled in 2009 that doctors in that state cannot be prosecuted for assisting with the death of terminally ill patients, but did not guarantee it as a constitutional right.