Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life

A doctor who was an advocate of terminal patients right to die, died Tuesday with help from an Oregon law.

Dr. Peter Rasmussen, 70, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in spring 2014. His wife says that he was surrounded by family when he committed suicide by a lethal dose of drug, USA Today reports. His wife told the paper that he died peacefully and the family held a private ceremony Sunday.

Rasmussen, an oncologist, was among the few physicians who initially supported of Oregon’s Death with Dignity measure when it was proposed in the 1990s, and was a vigilant advocate of a right to die. “He was probably one of the most bravest and received some of the most vitriolic comments from opponents,” Former State Rep. George Eighmey, who worked with Rasmussen to save the Oregon law from efforts to nullify it, told USA Today. “They vilified him and it was unfortunate, because Peter is one of the most compassionate, understanding physicians I’ve ever met.”

[USA Today]