Euthanasia in the US: Wash. woman first to die under new law

A sad story:

Linda Fleming was diagnosed with terminal cancer and feared her last days would be filled with pain and ever-stronger doses of medication that would erode her mind.

The 66-year-old woman with late-stage pancreatic cancer wanted to be clear-headed at death, so she became the first person to kill herself under Washington state's new assisted suicide law, known as "death with dignity."

"I am a very spiritual person, and it was very important to me to be conscious, clear-minded and alert at the time of my death," Fleming said in a statement released Friday. "The powerful pain medications were making it difficult to maintain the state of mind I wanted to have at my death. And I knew I would have to increase them."

With family members, her physician and her dog at her side, Fleming took a deadly dose of prescription barbiturates and died Thursday night at her home in Sequim, Wash. (AP)

LifeNews:

"... in Oregon, pro-life advocates point to abuses of the assisted suicide law.

Oregon resident Barbara Wagner found out Oregon health officials would pay for a suicide but not medication to treat her cancer.

... [a] report also indicates that 59 physicians wrote 88 prescriptions -- indicating some doctors are writing more than one lethal prescription for patients.

That leads pro-life advocates to wonder if they are truly finding better alternatives for their patients or just encouraging them to seek death as a solution. 

Assisted suicide is a failure of medicine, not an achievement.