--- description: Dr. Rasmussen's suicide was legal under Oregon's Death with Dignity law title: Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [oregon](/tag/oregon/) ## oregon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2015 1:28 AM CUT by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2015 1:28 AM CUT A doctor who was an advocate of terminal patients right to die, died Tuesday [with help from an Oregon law.](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/04/peter-rasmussen-right-to-die/75168720/ "undefined") 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.” \[[_USA Today_\]](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/04/peter-rasmussen-right-to-die/75168720/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/"},"headline":"Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life","datePublished":"2015-11-05T01:28:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:21:21.198Z","description":"Dr. Rasmussen's suicide was legal under Oregon's Death with Dignity law","url":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/","keywords":["oregon","health","right to die"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/oregon/","name":"oregon"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/","name":"Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Dr. Peter Goodwin","description":"Dr. Peter Goodwin, one of the earliest proponents of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, talks about the controversial law and why he decided to exercise his right to die","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8TqeuE7Z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-03-14T20:54:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8TqeuE7Z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/","duration":"PT6M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4100829/peter-rasmussen-assisted-suicide-right-to-die-dead/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```