SALEM, March 6, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thirty-eight persons used legal physician-assisted suicide to kill themselves in 2002, compared with 21 who did so in 2001, according to the fifth annual report of Oregon’s experience with the Death With Dignity Act.
The report, released yesterday by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), contains demographics and characteristics of those who took lethal prescriptions last year. It also examines Oregon’s experience since 1998, when the Death with Dignity Act went into effect. Findings are published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.
In 2002, 58 prescriptions were written for lethal medication and, of these, 36 patients died after taking the medication. Two additional deaths were of patients who received their prescriptions in 2001, for a total of 38 deaths in 2002. Six of the 58 patients who received prescriptions in 2002 were alive at the end of the year and 16 died of their illness.
Five-year aggregate data show that patients’ median age was 69 years; 97 percent of patients were white; 55 percent were male, 25 percent were divorced and 38 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Compared to other Oregonians dying of the same underlying illnesses, those who were younger, divorced or never married, well-educated or had cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) were more likely to participate. Patients’ major concerns over the five years were losing autonomy (85 percent), a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (79 percent) and losing control of bodily functions (58 percent).
See the full report at: https://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/chs/pas/ar-index.cfm