Word: oregon
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...that reason that a growing number of doctors seem willing to lend a hand in bringing lives to a close--and not all of those physicians are in Oregon. Many doctors admit to being willing to administer so-called terminal sedation, raising drug levels high enough to induce a fatal coma. Others simply increase morphine doses until the patient stops breathing. In 1998 the New England Journal of Medicine published a physician survey showing that when patients asked for lethal prescriptions, 16% of doctors complied, albeit quietly. "Aid in dying happens in every state," says assemblywoman Patty Berg, co-sponsor...
What's perhaps most remarkable about the Oregon law, despite its opponents' fears, is how few people have used it. In seven years, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 208 people took legal, lethal overdose prescriptions--out of 64,706 Oregonians who died of the same diseases. Last year 40 doctors wrote 60 lethal prescriptions, but only 37 were used. For many patients, the drugs are a form of insurance. They can take the medicine if the pain gets too bad or if they deteriorate to the point that they feel ready to go, but otherwise...
...surprised Oregonians in other ways too. Contrary to what was expected, most patients who seek the drugs say they are not doing it primarily to avoid eventual pain--something they appear to be willing to face down on their own. The very existence of the law, however, has focused Oregon doctors' attention on end-of-life care, spurring them to take extra training in complex pain management and encouraging them to refer patients to hospice care earlier than before. And, while critics feared that HMOs, insurance companies or relatives might subtly encourage suicide because it is cheaper than treatment, only...
Despite the comparative ease with which the suicide statute has become a part of mainstream medical care in Oregon, many patients seeking lethal drugs still have to shop for a doctor. Catholic hospitals and even some nondenominational ones forbid their physician employees from writing such prescriptions. While a general survey found that 51% of the state's physicians support the act, only 34% say they would be willing to be the one writing the prescription. Instead, many refer patients to Compassion in Dying, a local nonprofit that can recommend willing doctors. That is the group Lillian Sullivan, 77, turned...
Advocates of assisted suicide in Vermont and California are optimistic. But the legislative history of aid-in-dying measures also gives them cause to be wary. An Oregon-type voter initiative failed by only 2 percentage points in Maine in 2001, and a similar statute was narrowly defeated in Hawaii in 2002. Recent legislation was tabled in Wisconsin, Wyoming and Arizona. But with two Academy Award--winning movies this year featuring themes of assisted suicide--Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside--momentum, or at least public awareness, is clearly on the rise...