I live in one of the few states in the United States where Assisted Suicide, or euthanasia is legal. Both Oregon and Washington have legalized assisted suicides. Maybe it’s the rain that makes us more liberal up here -I’m not really sure.

Booth Gardener, who was a former governor of Washington state, and is a Parkinson’s Disease sufferer was also a strong proponent for legalization of  Euthanasia based on his own personal wish to end his life with dignity. The former governor was key in  getting the law passed in Washington State - just recently a movie made about Booth Gardener’s campaign entitled, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award.

Also interesting and more current, the science fiction/fantasy author Terry Pratchett has claimed that he would probably actually feel better about living a longer life if he knew he had the option of ending it at any time. The writer has had the misfortune of suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for two years and is advocating for legislation on Euthenasia and some kind of Euthenasia Tribunals to be held in Great Britain.


After Pratchett’s statement, Ray Gosling, a British documentarian has also come into the spotlight for the Euthenasia debate in Great Britain after admitting to killing his former partner to alleviate his suffering from AIDS. Since Mr.  Gosling's admission of guilt, he has been taken in for questioning, which is strange since the authorities don’t know who the partner was or when the “assisted suicide” took place. Apparently, Mr. Gosling smothered the partner with a pillow when the nurses and doctors were out of the room in the hospital.

Perhaps the strangest recent advocate for Assisted Suicide in Great Britain is writer Martin Amis who called for, “euthanasia booths” where “pensioners can end their lives with a martini and a medal.” Martin Amis also has a personal reason for advocating for the legalization of Euthenasia- he claims that his reason for trying to push the legislation came after witnessing his stepfather’s downfall and death last year.

The opponents of legalizing euthanasia are of course, shocked by his comments, which they claim were just used to promote Amis’ upcoming book.