Choosing Their Time

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It's for that reason that a growing number of doctors seem willing to lend a hand in bringing lives to a close--and not all of those physicians are in Oregon. Many doctors admit to being willing to administer so-called terminal sedation, raising drug levels high enough to induce a fatal coma. Others simply increase morphine doses until the patient stops breathing. In 1998 the New England Journal of Medicine published a physician survey showing that when patients asked for lethal prescriptions, 16% of doctors complied, albeit quietly. "Aid in dying happens in every state," says assemblywoman Patty Berg, co-sponsor of the California bill. "We need to bring it out of the closet, impose legal safeguards and careful oversight."

Advocates of assisted suicide in Vermont and California are optimistic. But the legislative history of aid-in-dying measures also gives them cause to be wary. An Oregon-type voter initiative failed by only 2 percentage points in Maine in 2001, and a similar statute was narrowly defeated in Hawaii in 2002. Recent legislation was tabled in Wisconsin, Wyoming and Arizona. But with two Academy Award--winning movies this year featuring themes of assisted suicide--Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside--momentum, or at least public awareness, is clearly on the rise.

"In 10 years, the whole country will have laws that value the civil right to die," predicts Steve Mason. That may be wishful thinking, and in any event, Mason won't be around to see it happen. Soon, as is his wish, his ashes will be scattered among Oregon's giant redwoods. "I feel liberated," he says. "Because, when my time is up, I get to choose." And that, it seems, adds a small consolation to the goodbye. •