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Oregon Releases Eighth Annual Assisted Suicide Report

by Hilary White

PORTLAND, March 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The state of Oregon has released its annual report on the eighth year of legalized physician assisted suicide (PAS). The report says that 38 Oregonians killed themselves in 2005 “following ingestion of medications prescribed” under the provisions of the Death with Dignity Act (DWDA).

The report’s data comes from physician and pharmacy reporting, physician interviews and death certificates. The report summary describes those killed by lethal overdoses as “participating” patients.

The report says, “Rates of participation in PAS decreased with age, although over 65% of PAS users were age 65 or older. Rates of participation were higher among those who were divorced or never married, those with more years of formal education.”

According to the report, only two of the patients who died by PAS were referred for psychiatric evaluation, even though it is common for terminally ill patients to suffer from serious depressive symptoms.

A group of doctors opposed to the law expressed their “profound grief for those vulnerable individuals frightened into committing assisted suicide.”

Physicians for Compassionate Care said in a statement, “Suicidal ideation is a symptom of depression, and this raises concern that depressed patients are being medically killed in Oregon.”

Since the law went into effect in 1997, 246 patients have died under its provisions.
The Oregon law is widely regarded as a “success” and is being used to fuel calls for legalization by assisted-suicide activists in California and Washington.

The National Council on Disability recently released a memorandum saying that the legalization of PAS in Oregon has established the value of a person’s life based on whether he is able to care for himself. “This different treatment is inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability,” the council said.

Physicians for Compassionate say, together with many critics of legalization, that the law serves only doctors seeking protection from prosecution.

The government’s report contends that the number of Oregon deaths from PAS remains small: about 1 in 800 deaths in 2005.

Read the full report:
http://egov.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/docs/year8.pdf

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