A NEW RIGHT TO DIE FOR

AN IMPORTANT RULING ON ASSISTED SUICIDE REWRITES THE LAW ON CHOOSING DEATH

DANIAL DANZER KNEW HE WAS DYING of AIDS. Of all the fears he faced, losing his mind was the worst. When his faculties started to fade, he wanted to hasten his death. But his doctor could not help; Washington State law prohibited physicians from assisting the terminally ill in committing suicide. So Danzer stopped taking his insulin. After five days of convulsions, he finally died. Says his partner, Jeff Halsey: "He might have been spared some of his greatest pain and retained some of his dignity if he and his physician had received help from a compassionate code of laws."

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