A bill introduced this fall in both houses of the Legislature, titled the New Jersey Death with Dignity Act, A-3328/S-2259, would, according to its synopsis, “permit[] qualified patient[s] to self-administer medication to end life in humane and dignified manner, subject to voter approval.”
Presently, only two states, Washington and Oregon, have right-to-die laws. Oregon’s law, passed in 1997, has resulted in 596 people ending their lives while, under Washington’s law, passed in 2009, 213 people have done so. These laws are carefully constructed and contain protections to insure that the actor has competently, knowingly and understandably opted to terminate. The process under which these acts operate is hardly similar to the lawless and unregulated process utilized by Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
