Senate committee adopts amendment shortening wait time and allowing facilities to post Death With Dignity policy

The Senate Committee on Rules on June 4 adopted an A5 amendment to Senate Bill 1,003 A, a measure that modifies provisions of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act and sent the bill to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation and referral to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Committee staff summarized the bill as revising terminology in the Death With Dignity Act, authorizing electronic transmission of prescriptions and reports, shortening minimum waiting periods from 15 days to seven days, modifying witness and consulting‑practitioner criteria, and requiring disclosure of hospice and health‑care facility policies related to the act. As staff put it, the amendment “permits a healthcare facility other than a hospice program to either post the facility’s policy regarding an admitted patient’s ability to participate in the act on the facility’s website or provide…