Seattle Right-To-Die Group Will Move To Oregon Compassion In Dying Plans Network Of Counselors

A Seattle organization that counsels the terminally ill plans to move its headquarters to Oregon to help manage requests to use the nation’s only doctor-assisted suicide law.

Compassion in Dying, formed in 1993, had gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge New York and Washington state bans on assisted suicide.

The court ruled in June there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide but left room for states to grapple with banning or allowing the practice.

Morton Yanow, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Seattle and a right-to-die activist, said the cases made Compassion in Dying a leader in the movement.

“Their image is really impeccable,” Yanow said.

Barbara Coombs Lee, a nurse-turned-lawyer who heads Compassion in Dying, helped draft Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.

The group plans to have a network of counselors in the Portland area by March 1 and statewide as early as June 1.

The organization already has had inquiries from right-to-die advocates about starting chapters in Alaska, New York, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri and Vermont.

Opponents claim that Compassion in Dying will promote assisted suicide in Oregon. But Lee says the state needs responsible stewards of the law.

“Now that there is an area where that is a reality, it would seem irresponsible to not bring our knowledge and our experience to that place and offer it.” Lee said.