Media Project: Physician Assisted Suicide Jordyn Bruey

What is it? On October 27, 1997, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act became a law. Assisted suicide is when a terminally ill, mentally competent adult, making the choice of their own free will and after meeting strict legal safety precautions, takes prescribed medication to end their life. It is legal in Oregon, Vermont, Washington, California, and Montana The method varies by each state

STATS Oregon: as of January 27, 2016, the drugs have been prescribed to 1,545 people and 991 of those people have died from ingesting it Washington: since 2009, the prescription was written for 725 people and there have been 712 reported deaths Vermont: Between May 2013 and May 2016 there have only been 24 prescriptions written California: the law gas only been in effect since January 1, 2016 Netherlands: 9% of deaths in 1990 were from assisted suicide, they allow this to be practiced on infants and newborns that are considered extremely disabled and even people that chronically depressed

Who Does This Effect? This right effects the people that live with a terminal illness and their families Some people voting for the law may not believe in allowing people to end their lives, but they don’t truly understand until they or a family member is put in this position The doctors in the states that it is legal

Leaders BRITTANY MAYNARD 29 year old woman that was diagnosed with a brain tumor that was terminal Moved to Oregon from California to be able to make her choice Launched her own Campaign with Compassion & Choices to advocate for ”Dying with Dignity” Shortly after she died the law was passed in California ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU A Christian leader in South Africa Reversed his lifelong opposition to assisted suicide "In refusing dying people the right to die with dignity, we fail to demonstrate the compassion that lies at the heart of Christian values. I pray that politicians, lawmakers and religious leaders have the courage to support the choices terminally ill citizens make in departing mother Earth"

Leadership Theory Transformational leadership is one of the most important types of leadership when dealing with such a controversial topic. Transformational leaders focus mainly on emotion, values, ethics, standards, and long term goals, which are all important for trying to change a law in a state or country People that are passionate about assisted suicide are needed because they have the ability to share their personal stories and reasoning to why or why not they choose to use prescribed drugs to end their lives

Media This is a topic that people are going to have strong opinions about It depends on which news station and or website is relaying the information because they will use words with a positive or negative connotation and influence your opinion Videos are very effective for making points about this topic http://www.cbsnews.com/news/death-with-dignity-advocate-brittany- maynard-ends-her-life/

Works Cited "Death with Dignity Advocate Brittany Maynard Ends Her Life." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. "Physician Assisted Suicide Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 7 June 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. “How To Die in Oregon” documentary on Netflix