A lawyer talks with his client. A lawyer talks with his client. The definition of a lawyer is someone who gives legal advice and represents people in legal matters.
Until after a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 threw out a Justice Department effort to block Oregonâs law, no other state permitted assisted suicide. Washington adopted its measure in 2008. Several northern European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, also allow assisted suicide.
See Which States Allow Assisted Suicide. Few issues are more personalâor divisiveâthan ending a life with a doctorâs lethal prescription. The issue has sparked national debate recently, after Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who had terminal brain cancer, went public with her decision to end her own life. She did so on Saturday in Oregon.