Assisted-suicide numbers continue to rise in Oregon

The law legalizing the action marks its fifth year, yet its attendant controversy has not abated.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. March 24/31, 2003.

The typical person who committed physician-assisted suicide under Oregon's Death With Dignity Act last year was most likely a married, white male cancer patient around 69 years old, according to a report the state released earlier this month.

In the five years assisted suicide has been legal in Oregon, 198 lethal drug doses have been prescribed, and 129 were taken. The 38 assisted suicides last year represent an 81% increase from the 21 that occurred in 2001, and the number is more than double the 16 that occurred in 1998, the first year the law was in place.

Last year, 58 lethal prescriptions were written in Oregon by 33 different physicians. Two patients died after taking drugs prescribed in 2001.

The top reasons patients gave for wanting to end their lives included losing autonomy (84%), decreasing ability to participate in activities they enjoyed (84%) and losing control of bodily functions (47%). "They don't want that loss of independence," said George Eighmey, executive director of the assisted-suicide advocacy group Compassion in Dying of Oregon. "The No. 1 reason given to me is: 'I don't want to have anyone wipe my rear end.' That is the most humiliating aspect of terminal illness."

Attorney, author and hospice volunteer Wesley J. Smith said loss of control of bodily functions is no reason to commit suicide.

"We have to deal with that with great sympathy and empathy," Smith said. "It doesn't make them any less human or less worthy. It's a natural part of life -- dying isn't dead -- and it's something that can be overcome."