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Seeking Compassion In Dying: The Washington State Law Against Assisted Suicide, Edward J. Larson

Seattle University Law Review

From a constitutional standpoint, the decision by Judge Rothstein is more significant than the Oregon initiative because her reasoning calls into question statutes against assisted suicide that are currently in effect in most American states and are part of traditional Anglo-American law. Her ruling goes far beyond the Oregon initiative (now the Death With Dignity Act), which created a narrow statutory exception in the law against assisted suicide. It establishes a broad, new constitutional right that will restrict legislative efforts to address this controversial social issue. The decision was unprecedented; no prior court had limited a state's authority to outlaw …