Jury selection
Jury selectionAt present (April 2001) only the state of Oregon has a statute permitting doctor-assisted/physician-assisted suicide (DAS/PAS) and then only within very narrowly prescribed circumstances, i.e., for a terminally ill patient. In the November 1998 elections, voters in Michigan defeated a ballot measure to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. Earlier in the last decade, voters in California and Washington state defeated similar ballot measures. A bill similar to Oregon’s PAS law died in the Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee in February 2000 and the issue before Maine voters as a referendum in the November 2000 election was narrowly defeated by some 51% of those voting [yeas 315,031; nays 332,280]. Such measures although often introduced often die within committee hearings and seldom reach the floor of the full legislative body. An example of such proposed legislation is California AB1592 THE DEATH WITH DIGNITY ACT, proposed early in 1999– presented here in an analysis form. Permissive DAS legislation is overshadowed by measures prohibiting DAS under penalty of law. The Death with Dignity National Center has compiled a summary...
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