Relatively modest drives are afoot in Washington state and California, where organizations have launched education campaigns on how people can fill out instructions for future caregivers to withhold food and drink, thereby carrying out an option that is legal to anybody: death by starvation and dehydration. (It is often referred to as the \u201cvoluntarily stopping eating and drinking\u201d method.)<\/p>\n
The boldest bid is taking place in Quebec. Prompted by a 2017 murder case involving the apparent \u201cmercy killing\u201d of a 60-year-old woman with Alzheimer\u2019s by her husband \u2014 who smothered her with a pillow \u2014 the provincial government is studying the possibility of legalizing euthanasia for Alzheimer\u2019s patients. Unlike medically assisted suicide, a medical doctor would administer the fatal dose via injection. A survey in September found that 91 percent of the Canadian province\u2019s medical caregivers support the idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process that could lead to [legislative] changes has already begun,\u201d said Marie-Claude Lacasse, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services.<\/p>\n
Somewhere between these points is Oregon, where several lawmakers are trying to push the right-to-die envelope.<\/p>\n
Under the current law, eligible patients can obtain prescriptions for lethal barbiturates. Qualified patients must be diagnosed with a terminal illness, have a prognosis of six or fewer months to live, and self-ingest the drug. The vast majority \u2014 more than 70 percent, according to the Oregon Health Authority \u2014 have cancer; most others have either heart disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n