Policy Identification and Explanation
The Revised Code of Washington 70.245 is a state law approved by the Washington state legislature in 2008. The act states that: This would allow terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents medically predicted to die within six months to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician. The measure demands two oral and one written request, two physicians to diagnose the patient and determine the patient is capable, a waiting period, and physician authentication of an informed patient decision. Physicians, patients and others acting in good faith compliance would have criminal and civil immunity (Washington Death with Dignity Act [WDWD], 2008).
The Washington Death with …show more content…
The act intends solely to give the patients the option to die with dignity as this choice is expressed in section 18 of the bill, stating “Nothing in this chapter authorizes a physician or any other person to end a patient’s life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia. Actions taken in accordance with this chapter do not, for any purpose constitute suicide, mercy killing, or homicide, under the law” (WDWD, 2008). The act clearly states that the option of self-inflicted death by taking medicine is given solely to the patient and is an improved version of the previously attempted physician assisted suicide. Although this bill makes a large change in the Washington State law, it doesn’t require funding directly from the state. The only funding comes from national promotion agencies like the Death with Dignity National Center and have raised approximately $700,000 to help promote the cause nationally and get the act passed in every state …show more content…
So has the idea of being able to end ones suffering from a terminal illness has become more customary, state legislatures initiated attempts to legalize this Act in their states. The first state to attempt to legalize euthanasia was Ohio in 1906, but was rejected due to the religion and moral controversy arose. By 1938, the topic was showing rapid fortitude throughout the U.S. This sparked Reverend Charles Potter to form the Euthanasia Society of America to gain a national presence. In 1967, Dr. Walter W. Sackett presented a right-to-die bill to the Florida legislature and although it presented a very extensive debate, the bill turned out to be unsuccessful (Death with Dignity Nation Center [DDNC], 2008). In protest to multiple attempts such as Dr. Sackett’s, ten states passed assisted suicide laws in 1976 in order to take a stand against the debatable topic of euthanasia. Because of the formation of the World Federation of the Right to Die Society in Oxford, England, 1980 became a great year in the jurisdiction of euthanasia. This society contains 27 groups and 18 nations, which don’t just increase popularity of the idea in the United States, but gave euthanasia a global presence as well (DDNC, 2008). The California State Bar Conference passed resolution #3-4-87 in 1987 and became the first public body to give consent to physicians to aid in the death of