''How to Die in Oregon'' is a 2011 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

produced and directed by Peter Richardson. It is set in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and covers the state's Death with Dignity Act that allows terminally ill patients to self-administer barbiturates prescribed by their physician to end their own life, referred to as

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

by opponents and medical aid in dying by proponents. Richardson spent nearly a year with 54-year-old Cody Curtis, an OHSU faculty member with liver cancer, as she grappled with the decision of whether or not to take a lethal dose of a barbiturate.

Release

The film was released in January 2011 at the 27th Sundance Film Festival and began airing on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

later in the year. Peter Richardson, a native Oregonian, got the idea to produce the film as the state's law was upheld by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

in the 2006 case Gonzales v. Oregon.

Critical reception

''How to Die in Oregon'' was well received by critics, currently holding a 100% "fresh" rating on ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

'' based on 11 reviews. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentaries at the 27th Sundance Film Festival.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:How To Die In Oregon 2011 films 2011 documentary films American documentary films Assisted suicide in the United States Documentary films about suicide Euthanasia in the United States Films about euthanasia Films about disability in the United States Films scored by Max Richter Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Filmed suicides Documentary films about Oregon Sundance Film Festival award–winning films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films