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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.
In the United States, Oregon was the first state to legalized doctor-prescribed suicide. At that time, assisted-suicide advocates predicted that there would be a rapid âdomino effect,â and other states would soon follow Oregonâs lead.