D.C. Passes Assisted Suicide Bill

In an 11-2 vote, the Washington, D.C. Council has approved the “Death with Dignity Act”—legislation that would physicians to prescribe fatal drugs to terminally ill patients who live in the city. Washington is now the sixth jurisdiction in the country to legalize such prescriptions. A spokesman for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said he “expects the bill to become law.” The council must hold another vote on the bill on or after Nov. 15. The legislation is modeled after the 1997 Oregon law, which was written to assist dying patients who were suffering unnecessarily in their last days.