Five states currently have laws allowing terminally ill patients to take life-ending medicine.
Final Options Illinois is showing the movie “How To Die In Oregon” at the Rockford Public Library this weekend; it follows people’s experiences with aid-in-dying laws and their origins.
Ed Gogol, president of Final Options Illinois, says this subject benefits from an open discussion.
“People need to know that this is something that is a choice, never an obligation," he said. "People need to know there is multiple layers of safeguards built into the laws. They need to know that if you do take advantage of the law, this is something where you have to be able to take the medicine yourself.”
He hopes to dispel common myths surrounding the topic.
“Maybe it’s a good thing the meds are not cheap," he says, "because again, no one should do this lightly. If one is going to be hastening one’s death, it should only be because your suffering has truly become intolerable to you.”
The event is at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
