X-Message-Number: 9351 Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 17:13:40 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: First reported Oregon assisted death The Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO) reports the following: An elderly woman suffering from breast cancer has taken her life under the terms of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, becoming the first person known to do so since the law became operative last October. Barbara Coombs Lee, director of Compassion in Dying, Portland, Oregon, said the woman, in her mid 80s, took her life yesterday (March 24) by taking pills. The woman, whose name or location in the state was not revealed, took the barbiturates mixed with syrup to make it more palatable, and washed it down with a glass of brandy. Surrounded by family members and the physician, she fell into a deep sleep within five minutes and died thirty minutes later. In a tape played today for journalists, the woman said she was looking forward to death, which would releve her of all the stress she had. She had suffered from breast cancer for twenty years, and recently had difficulty breathing. Her doctor said recently that she had less than two months to live. The woman's own doctor refused to assist her -- as the law allows -- so the woman turned to the advocacy group, Compassion in Dying, to find a doctor who would. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9351