Bulletin 21: Oregon Governor Supports PAD Act

4th August 2008

Address by Barbara Roberts, former Oregon Governor

Barbara Roberts is former Governor of the State of Oregon in the USA, where Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) has been lawful since 1997. Roberts says of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act:

“I believe in the law, and I believe in the right people have to die with dignity. I believe strongly that what we can talk about we can make better and I don’t think that anything is much more clear about this law than what is happening in Oregon.

“More people are in hospice in this State than almost any State in the nation. Our pain control management is better than almost any State in the nation, maybe any State. More people die at home than in hospitals in Oregon.

“Everything about the process has made dying better in Oregon for all kinds of citizens, whether they use the law and take advantage of it, or whether they don’t. And so it has given them dignity, it has given the choices, it has given them a sense of self-control.

“Oregon proves what happens when you make the law and the compassion come together.”