HOW TO DIE IN OREGON: Peter D. Richardson (Director) How To Die In Oregon by Jeanette D. Moses [jeanette@slugmag.com] How To Die In Oregon Sundance Film Festival Director: Peter D. Richardson In 1994 Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide. If a person is diagnosed with a terminal disease and has less than six months to live, they can chose to kill themselves by taking a lethal dose of barbiturates. Since passing more than 500 people have chosen to end their lives on their own time. Through the film Peter D. Richardson enters the lives of the terminally ill who have chosen to end their suffering utilizing the Oregon law. Without a doubt, the most touching story comes from Cody Curtis—a fifty something year old woman with two children who has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and told she has six months to live. Curtis is appalled by the idea that she will become a burden to her friends and family, and even picks a date when she’ll take the medication to kill herself. As the date draws nearer we see footage of Curtis divvying up her possessions to her friends and family and spending her final weeks with those that are most important to her. But then the unexpected happens, instead of getting worse, for a while Curtis’s condition improves, forcing her to question whether it’s better to fade away naturally or to take the lethal dose of medication to end her suffering. The interviews in Richardson’s film are truly captivating and profound. Through interviews with Curtis, others who have chosen to end their lives using the Oregon law and volunteers behind the Compassion & Choices organization, Richardson builds a documentary the begs the questions: What does it mean to die with dignity? Is it ethical to allow people with the tools to kill themselves? If you were in their situation, what would you choose? The film explores the various ways that individuals deal with their own demise. It pulls on the heartstrings, but also does a good job of giving a balanced look at a controversial and emotionally charged issue. As "How To Die In Oregon" came to an end, the audience was silent. All that could be heard as the credits rolled was occasional sniffling. Hours after, the stories of those interviewed are still lingering in the back of my mind.
HOW TO DIE IN OREGON (GRAND JURY PRIZE: DOCUMENTARY) " HOW TO DIE IN OREGON " Peter D. Richardson 2010 Categories: U.S. Documentary Competition The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity. From its opening scene, where a terminally ill cancer patient takes a lethal dose of Seconal and literally dies on camera, it becomes shockingly clear that How to Die in Oregon is a special film. In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. As a result, any individual whom two physicians diagnose as having less than six months to live can lawfully request a fatal dose of barbiturate to end his or her life. Since 1994, more than 500 Oregonians have taken their mortality into their own hands. In How to Die in Oregon, filmmaker Peter Richardson (Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival) gently enters the lives of the terminally ill as they consider whether—and when—to end their lives by lethal overdose. Richardson examines both sides of this complex, emotionally charged issue. What emerges is a life-affirming, staggeringly powerful portrait of what it means to die with dignity.