Medical Aid in Dying State Laws: A Thirty Year Evolution.

The notion of medical aid in dying dates back to 1994 and the approval of the Death with Dignity Act by the citizens of Oregon. Therein was incorporated the notion of competent terminally ill patients being permitted to resort to the self administration of lethal physician-prescribed drugs. Several other states followed suit. Medical aid in dying is now broadly applied in the US under strict legal oversight in an ever-growing number of states.