By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The state of Oregon is reporting a 30 percent increase in the number of people who died by assisted suicide in the last two years.
According to a new report issued by the state health department, 88 prescriptions for lethal medications were written during 2008 compared with 85 during 2007 and 65 during 2006.
“Of these, 54 patients took the (lethal) medications, 22 died of their underlying disease, and 12 were alive at the end of 2008,” the report stated.
The most common reasons for wanting suicide assistance were loss of autonomy (95 %), decreasing ability to participate in activities (92 %), loss of dignity (92 %) and inadequate pain control (5 %).
The majority of the victims were white and well-educated individuals between the ages of 55 and 84 who were suffering mostly from cancer.
Opponents of assisted suicide are voicing serious concerns about the report.
“The annual report continues to lack the essential information for determining the social context of these decisions,” said Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
“The reporting system also continues to lack any safeguards for the people who die by assisted suicide, based on the fact that reporting is completed by the physician who prescribes the lethal drugs, while the physician was only present at the time of ingesting the lethal drugs 11 times, or 18.3% of the time.
“Further, there are no third party reports or investigations to ensure that the cases fulfilled the requirements of the law and/or that the reports are accurately reported, and there are no investigations to confirm that reports were submitted for all assisted suicide deaths.”
In other words, there is no way of knowing if other deaths by assisted suicide occurred, or if any of the people who died this way were pressured to do so or who may have died outside the guidelines of the law.
“This is because the Oregon Death with Dignity Act relies on physicians to submit reports based on their own actions. It is unlikely that any physician will ever submit a report that admits to decisions or actions that are outside of the legal parameters.”
Since Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act was passed in 1997, a total of 401 people are said to have died under the terms of the law.
Mr. Schadenberg also points out that even though concerns about inadequate pain control are the reason most people support legalizing assisted suicide, only three of the 60 people who died by assisted suicide in Oregon last year listed this as the reason they requested suicide assistance.
”The 2008 report, like the previous reports, lacks the necessary information to assure the public that all is well in Oregon,” Mr. Schadenberg said.
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