Choosing Death Can Be Like a 'Birth' Advocates Say

James Powell could barely speak on the day he died; cancer had confined him to bed and heavy painkillers left him only semi-lucid. Yet the mood was almost celebratory as 25 people -- family, friends and volunteers -- gathered in a large living room to tell stories and say goodbye on the day he chose to end his suffering. Powell, who died at age 82 in 2008, had worked to pass Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, a law enacted in 1997 that allows terminally ill patients to choose to end their own lives with lethal medications.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/30/assisted.suicide.oregon/index.html