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Oregon ’s Assisted Suicide Experiment Does Not Work

 
The Oregon Health Department's recent release of the 2007 report concerning Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" proves one thing: Oregon's assisted suicide experiment does not work as voters were led to believe it would.

This year's deaths by doctor-assisted suicide are three times the number of deaths in 1997, the year Oregon's law became functional.  While proponents of the law will say that only three more patients killed themselves under the law this year than last, that is a misleading picture of how dramatically suicides have increased.  The number of lethal prescriptions written has also skyrocketed.

The most frightening figure, however, is "0" - the number of patients seeking physician-assisted suicide who were referred for psychiatric exams in 2007.  While clinical depression is the number one cause of suicide, not one single patient was referred to a professional counselor because of depression.  In the law's first year, 31 percent of patients were referred for counseling.  Do doctors no longer care?

As in the past, the two most reported reasons for requesting assisted suicide were "losing autonomy" and being "less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable."

"Pain or fear of pain" continued to be the least used reason for those requesting suicide.  Supporters of assisted suicide have long maintained that assisted suicide is necessary for those suffering from intractable pain; however, there has been no documented case of assisted suicide being used for untreatable pain.

Linda Ganzini, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, surveyed family members of 83 Oregon patients who requested assisted suicide.  Published by the Journal of General Internal Medicine, February 2008, the study by Ganzini et al emphasizes this truth:

"No physical symptoms experienced at the time of the request were rated higher than 2 on a 1-5 scale.  In most cases, future concerns about physical symptoms were rated as more important than physical symptoms present at the time of the request."

Ganzini concludes, "Our date suggests that when talking with a patient requesting [assisted suicide], clinicians should focus on eliciting and addressing worries and apprehensions about the future with the goal of reducing anxiety about the dying process.  Some Oregon clinicians have expressed surprise at the paucity of suffering at the time of the request among these patients.  Addressing patient concerns with concrete interventions that help maintain control, independence and self care, all in the home environment, may be an effective way to address requests for [assisted suicide] and improve quality of remaining life."

Ganzini's study confirms that instead of having their fears and concerns ministered to, many patients are being abandoned at their critical time of need and left to indulge their fears by succumbing to a needless suicide.

The facts are now conclusive:  Oregon's assisted suicide experiment has failed those whom it was intended to serve.