| 1980 |
End-of-Life Choices is founded as The Hemlock Society, an end-of-life care organization for those suffering with incurable illnesses. |
| 1987 |
Oregon Senator Frank Roberts sponsors legislation championing choice at the end of life. |
| 1990 |
The US Supreme Court decides the Cruzan vs. Director, Missouri Department of Health case, ruling that Missouri was right in not allowing this young woman in a persistent vegetative state to die, because of a lack of clear and convincing evidence, but affirming the right of Americans to refuse unwanted medical treatment, and their right to appoint a health care proxy to speak for them when they could not. Cruzan was later allowed to die. |
| 1991 |
Coincidental with the first vote ever taken on physician aid in dying in Washington State, Derek Humphrey, founder of the Hemlock Society publishes the first edition of Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance for the Terminally Ill. |
| 1993 |
Compassion In Dying is founded to provide support and advocacy programs for the terminally ill in Washington State. |
| 1993 |
The Hemlock Society establishes the Patients’ Rights Organization, a political action group. |
| 1994 |
Oregon voters approve Measure 16, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, a ballot initiative that permits terminally ill patients, under proper safeguards, to obtain a physician’s prescription to end life in a humane and dignified manner. The law passes with 51 percent of the vote. |
| 1997 |
The Compassion In Dying Federation is spawned by Compassion In Dying of Washington, to launch national advocacy and support programs.
Oregon’s law is challenged by the National Right-to-Life Committee. The challenge was held up in the courts until it was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court in 1997. That year, the Oregon legislature put a measure on the ballot to rescind the law, but it was defeated by 60 percent of the voters.
In Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill, the US Supreme Court rules state laws against assisting suicide are not unconstitutional, and refers the issue to the states.
The Hemlock Society establishes the Caring Friends program to provide information and support to its members.
Compassion In Dying’s client “Helen” becomes the first person to take lethal medication.
Rep. Henry Hyde and Sen. Don Nickles introduce The Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act to prohibit legal aid in dying. |
| 1999 |
The US House of Representatives passes the Pain Relief Promotion Act (PRPA). The bill would have criminalized aid in dying and nullified the Oregon law. |
| 2000 |
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden’s threatened filibuster keeps the PRPA from reaching the Senate floor. |
| 2000 |
The Hemlock Society hosts biannual conference of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies in Boston. |
| 2001 |
Attorney General John Ashcroft issues a directive that would effectively overturn two statewide elections and nullify the votes of over 650,000 Oregonians. Federal District Court Judge Robert E. Jones enjoins the Ashcroft directive. |
| 2001 |
Compassion in Dying helps pass legislation in California (AB 487) to improve pain management at the end of life. |
| 2002 |
October 6, marks the fifth anniversary of Oregon’s Death with Dignity law; 129 terminally ill Oregonians have used it to die peacefully.
Attorneys present oral arguments for Oregon v. Ashcroft arguing states rights. Months later, Judge Jones rules against Ashcroft and rebukes the federal government for its attempt to "stifle an ongoing, earnest and profound debate in the various states concerning physician-assisted suicide." |
| 2003 |
A physician aid in dying measure is brought to vote in the Vermont legislature with the Hemlock Society providing assistance. |
| 2003 |
The Hemlock Society, after surveying its membership and receiving a resounding affirmative, enhances its mission to include a more proactive effort in introducing and changing laws that allow people the right to choose a peaceful hastened death if they are terminally ill and mentally competent. As a result of this, the board of directors, after due diligence, made the difficult but strategic decision to change its name from the Hemlock Society to End-of-Life Choices. |
| 2003 |
End of Life Choices hosts their biannual conference in San Diego, with Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong as keynote speaker. |
| 2004 |
The Department of Justice appeals Oregon v Ashcroft to the United States Ninth Circuit Court |
| |
As Attorney General John Ashcroft resigns, he files an appeal to the US Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s affirmation of lower court injunction of the Ashcroft directive. Now known as Gonzales vs. Oregon, the case asks the high court to consider whether the federal Controlled Substances Act authorizes the Department of Justice to displace state regulators and determine legitimate use of medications. Traditionally, this prerogative has been reserved for the states. |
| 2005 |
Compassion in Dying and End-of-Life Choices unify to become Compassion & Choices. The new organization maintains headquarters in both Denver and Portland, and is the largest organization in the United States advocating for patients’ rights at the end of life. |
