27 People Committed Physician Assisted Suicide In Oregon In 2000
PORTLAND, Feb 23, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Oregon Health Division released its “Death with Dignity Act Annual Report 2000” Wednesday noting that in the third year of the legal physician-assisted suicide program 27 people killed themselves – the same number as was reported for the previous year.
The report confirms the warnings of pro-lifers that the “right-to-die” would soon become the duty to die. Based on interviews with physicians who doled out the lethal drugs the report noted “patients have increasingly expressed concern about becoming a burden to family, friends or caregivers (2000, 63%; 1999, 26%; 1998, 12%).”
In 2000, 39 prescriptions for lethal doses of medication were written, compared with 24 in 1998 and 33 in 1999. Patients with a college education were eight times more likely to participate than people without a high school education. Patients with post-baccalaureate education were 19 times more likely to participate than people without a high school education. The median age of the 27 patients who took lethal medication in 2000 was 69 years. Twelve were male, and 26 were white. Eighteen (67%) were married.
Twenty-two physicians with an age range of 34-58 years took part in the killings.
The deaths were not all easy. The report notes one patient regurgitated some of the lethal concoction and in that sorrowful state went unconscious and died.
The full report is available on line at: https://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/chs/pas/ar-index.htm