Oregon had few assisted suicides in 2001

The state still faces a challenge to its controversial law.

By Andis Robeznieks, amednews staff. March 4, 2002.

More than 29,500 people died in Oregon last year, including 21 people who died by their own hands after ingesting a lethal prescription made available through the state's Death With Dignity Act.

In all, 44 people received lethal prescriptions from doctors last year. This represents an increase in prescriptions (39 in 2000, 33 in 1999, and 24 in 1998), but a decrease in the number of people who actually took them (27 in both in 2000 and 1999, and 16 in 1998).

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The state's assisted-suicide law -- which allows doctors to prescribe, but not administer, a lethal dose of narcotics to patients diagnosed as having six months to live -- was approved by voters in 1994 and 1997. How long it will remain in effect remains unclear.

Last fall, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft declared that prescribing a lethal dose of a controlled substance was not a "legitimate medical purpose." Under this edict, doctors who write a lethal prescription face suspension or revocation of their license to prescribe narcotics.

A federal judge, however, issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of Ashcroft's ruling. Court proceedings could begin on the issue by the end of March.

In the meantime, critics continue to rail against the assisted-suicide law and how its results are reported.

More Oregonions got lethal prescriptions last year, but fewer took them.

Portland psychiatrist N. Gregory Hamilton, MD, and the group Physicians for Compassionate Care charge that the law discriminates against the elderly and seriously ill.

Dr. Hamilton said only three of the 21 patients who committed suicide were referred to psychiatrists. To not refer a suicidal patient to a psychiatrist "would be malpractice in any other state," he said, adding that the act of prescribing a lethal dose "verifies the patient's belief that their life isn't worth living."

Deputy state epidemiologist Katrina Hedberg, MD, noted that the law requires two doctors to agree that the patient has the mental capacity to make sound medical decisions.

The fear of losing the capacity to think and act for themselves is the main reason most patients give for going through with assisted suicide, Dr. Hedberg said.

"They are concerned about autonomy and being in control at the end of their lives," she said. "They really want to control the manner and timing of their death."