Oregon takes stock of 'right to die' law

292 patients have died with aid of physicians since the law went into effect in 1998, new figures show.

By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the March 12, 2007 edition

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ASHLAND, ORE. - Ten years after Oregonians passed a controversial ballot measure allowing physicians to help some patients take their own lives, the records show that what critics feared has apparently not happened. No rush to end one's life, no people flocking here from other states, no pressure from family, doctors, and insurance companies to commit suicide.

Relatively few people opt to end their own lives by taking a doctor-prescribed drug, according to recently-released figures for 2006: 46 deaths last year, 292 overall since the law went into effect – about one-tenth of 1 percent of those diagnosed with terminal illnesses in Oregon.

Instead, palliative and hospice care have increased markedly here because the law helped raise awareness about caring for terminally ill patients. As a result, Oregon ranks among the best in the nation in end-of-life care. This means more people are looked after at home with the emotional and spiritual support of their families rather than spending their last days in a hospital.

"The practice has settled into a nice, safe, responsible, conservative record of aid-in-dying practice in the state," says Barbara Combs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a Denver-based advocacy group that supports physician-assisted suicide. "Once again, very, very few Oregonians have exercised their option under the law."

Although Oregon remains the only state to allow physician-assisted suicide, California is also moving in that direction, and the topic is being debated in Arizona, Vermont, and Washington. A bill sponsored by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) and other lawmakers patterns Oregon's "Death With Dignity Act."

The Oregon law specifically prohibits "lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia." But it does allow mentally competent adults who declare their intentions in writing, and have been diagnosed as terminally ill, to take a doctor- prescribed lethal drug themselves, orally, after a waiting period. The California proposal includes what supporters say are additional safeguards: requiring doctors to give patients a written summary of alternatives, and directing that those not under hospice care receive a psychological evaluation.

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