A physician-assisted suicide initiative failed in Washington State in 1991. Similar attempts to pass assisted suicide legislation have failed in 25 other states.

In 2008, Washington voters were again faced with an assisted suicide initiative.  The passing of the so-called “Death with Dignity” initiative (I-1000) made Washington only the second state, after Oregon, to legalize physician-assisted suicide.  The initiative proposed a fundamental change in civil law that allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who request them.

The Church teaches that our obligation is to nurture and support life, but never to harm or destroy it.  Our teaching distinguishes between killing—which is an intentional action or omission to bring about the death of another, and allowing to die—which is withholding or withdrawing treatment that is no longer helping a patient and may actually be harming them. The morality of any action is judged by one’s intention. In the case of assisted suicide, the intention is to cause the death of another person.

Human beings are by nature social and interdependent. No one person’s freedom is absolute. Individual freedom must be weighed against the needs of the common good, which should be reflected in our laws. Therefore, our laws should enable us to live together in society, upholding our common values, and protecting vulnerable and defenseless people.

Death will come to us all at some point, and when that time comes, if healing is no longer possible, then patients should be provided good palliative (comfort) care.  Instead of seeking ways to end lives, we should strive, as compassionate people, to seek life-giving ways to care for dying persons among us.

For more information on the issue of physician-assisted suicide and Initiative 1000, see the following:  

• Read Deacon Bill Haines & Gina Haines Homily to St. Louise de Marillac Parish, Bellevue, WA, October 19, 2008. 
• Read Sister Francine Barber's Reflections to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Woodinville, WA, October 11-12, 2008.
• Read Fr. Gary Zender's Homily to St. Anthony Parish, Renton, Washington, October 4-5, 2008.
• The National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD), representing over 14 million Catholics with disabilities in the United States, issued a statement in opposition to I-1000.  "We oppose Initiative 1000 because its supporters aim to include people with disabilities and we emphatically reject assisted suicide as a response to disability."
• We are called to a fullness of life that far exceeds the dimensions of our earthly existence.. "because it consists in sharing the very life of God."  For more on what the Church teaches about the end of life, please see our brochure Respecting Life at the End of Life.  Respetando la Vida al Final de la Vida.
  
• Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane, Willam Skylstad, shares with us the sadness and beauty to be experienced and cherished as our loved ones' lives apporoach their natural end in Everything is grace.  Todo es gracia.
• The false choice of assisted suicide is exposed in our brochure,  I-1000: Care & Compassion or Lethal Prescription? It's YOUR Choice.   La Iniciativa 1000: Cuidado y Compasión o Prescripción Letal? Es SU decisión.  There are many truly compassionate alternatives to assisted suicide.  Moreover, "I-1000 short-circuits the natural, necessary, and healthy opportunities for reconciliation, healing, and acceptance at the end of life."
• Read Proposal is reckless, unnecessary by Rheba de Tornyay, guest columnist to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  "We can have death with dignity without enabling our physicians to sign death warrants. A dying person need no longer suffer the torments of pain, anxiety and depression or exchange the sanctuary of home for the rigors of a hospital."
• Are lethal prescriptions the answer?  They Say, We Say.  Ellos Dicen, Nosotros Decimos.
• Read Deacon Juan Lezcano’s Homily to St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Federal Way, Washington, July 13, 2008. (Diacono Juan Lezcano, sfo. Predicado el 13 d julio de 2008 en la Iglesia Catolica de St. Vincent de Paul, Federal Way, Washington.)
• Many voters showed their support by signing the Petition to Oppose I-1000. Petición para oponerse a I-1000. and did their part to fight the assisted suicide initiative.
• I-1000 raised enormous societal and public policy implications.  Remembering that "that which is legal becomes that which is moral," see The Value of Human Life: Assisted Suicide & Public Policy.  La Política Pública & El Suicidio Asistido: El Valor de la Vida Humana.
• Read Fr. Paul Pluth’s Homily to St. Anne Parish, Seattle, June 7, 2008.
• Looking for a quick summary of the ballot title and the nuts and bolts of the proposal to legalize assisted suicide?  Read the Main Points of I-1000.  Iniciativa-1000. 

• Why be concerned about Initiative 1000?  What You Need to Know About Initiative 1000.  Lo Que Usted Necesita Saber Sobre la Iniciativa 1000.

• Michigan Catholic Conference – 1997
  “Living and Dying According to the Voice of Faith: A Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of the State of Michigan”
  http://www.micatholicconference.org/public_policy/living_and_dying.php
• Michigan Catholic Conference – video
  “Assisted Suicide: The Catholic Perspective”
  http://www.micatholicconference.org/media_gallery/thumbnails.php?album=9
• “Five Oregonians to Remember”
  Article from Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation
  http://www.pccef.org/articles/art60.htm
• Physician-assisted Suicide: The Wrong Approach to End of Life Care
  Michael Gloth, MD
  http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/03rlgloth.shtml
• Dying Well, Assisted Suicide, and the Law
  M. Cathleen Kaveny, M.A., M. Phil., J.D., Ph.D
  http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/99rlkave.shtml
• “No Assisted Suicide” - Coalition Against Assisted Suicide
  http://www.noassistedsuicide.com/index.html
• Washington Not Dead Yet 

     http://noassistedsuicide.blogspot.com

• “Analysis of Washington Assisted Suicide Initiative, I-1000
  Rita Marker, Executive Director,
  International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide http://www.internationaltaskforce.org/washin.htm
• Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation
  Statement for the BBC from Dr. William Toffler,  PCCEF’s National Director http://www.pccef.org/whoweare/memberviewpoints.htm