The US state of Washington has become the second US state to legalise physician assisted suicide, 11 years after Oregon, its neighbour to the south.

Initiative 1000, modelled on Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, was passed on 4 November by a majority of 59% to 41%. It will allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs for mentally competent patients with less than six months to live.

Patients will have to be residents of the state and will have to go through a 15 day waiting period after asking for the lethal dose. …