The law permits eligible patients with a terminal illness to request lethal drugs to end their lives. Individual hospitals may prohibit participation in euthanasia, but must clearly state their policy. Washington law is very similar to assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Vermont.
http://healthcare.findlaw.com/patient-rights/death-with-dignity-laws-by-state.html
It depends. Federal law doesn't specifically protect the act of mercy killing or euthanasia, nor does it prohibit the practice altogether. Instead, the right to assisted suicide (also sometimes known as 'death with dignity') is established by state law. The vast majority of states do not allow patients to end their lives, either on their own or through the aid of a doctor.
http://healthcare.findlaw.com/patient-rights/death-with-dignity-laws-by-state.html
This is an emerging area of the law and only a handful of states permit physician-assisted suicide. If you have additional legal questions about this issue, including euthanasia and advanced directives, contact a health care attorney in your state.
http://healthcare.findlaw.com/patient-rights/death-with-dignity-laws-by-state.html
In a 2004 article in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Brown University historian Jacob M. Appel documented extensive political debate over legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide in both Iowa and Ohio in 1906.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
Robert Steinbrook, M.D. Article. In November, residents of the state of Washington voted 58% to 42% to allow physician-assisted suicide.1 The Washington Death with Dignity Act is modeled on a similar law that has been in effect in Oregon since October 1997 and that was upheld in 2006 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0809394
Gonzales v. Oregon was brought to the United States Supreme Court in 2006. The court ruled that the United States Attorney General could not enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act against physicians who prescribed drugs, in compliance with Oregon state law, for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
Physician-assisted suicide in the United States is legal in the states of California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
In Montana, the Baxter v. Montana (2009) court decision created a defense for a physician who is prosecuted should the physician be charged in assisting a suicide although prosecutions and convictions for assisted suicide remain possible in Montana.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
Whereas physicians and health care organizations in Oregon had 3 years to prepare for their state's Death with Dignity Act (there were legal challenges, and ballot measures passed in 1994 and 1997), those in Washington will have only several months.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0809394
The Massachusetts Death with Dignity Initiative, a ballot measure to legalize physician-assisted suicide, was narrowly defeated in a remarkable come-from-behind effort in the state's 2012 general election, with 51% of voters against the proposal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
where is physician assisted death legal
Physician assisted death is legal in California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The Physician Assisted Death Legal is in California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.