By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
(Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) — A recent assisted suicide lobby information article asks the question: Can I travel to use Death with Dignity?
As many of our supporters are aware, Oregon and Vermont expanded their assisted suicide laws by removing the assisted suicide law residency requirement and allowing anyone from anywhere to die by assisted suicide in those states.
The recent assisted suicide lobby article is encouraging suicide tourism by informing people from jurisdictions that prohibit assisted suicide to come to die by assisted suicide in Oregon or Vermont.
The article includes links for out-of-state-residents to contact assisted suicide organizations in Oregon and Vermont as well as contact information for a national organization that will provide advice for suicide tourists.
In March 2025 I published an article outlining the Oregon assisted suicide statistics. In 2024 in Oregon there were:
- 607 poison prescriptions written, which was up from 433 in 2022.
- 376 reported assisted suicide deaths, up by 71 from 305 in 2022.
- 23 of the 376 reported assisted suicide deaths were out-of-state residents.
In the article I explain that there were likely more assisted suicide deaths in Oregon in 2024. Oregon doctors often sent in late reports and there were possible problems with under-reporting.
Since the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) determines the number of assisted suicide deaths based on the reports they receive, if a doctor does not submit a report to the OHA there is no way to know if there was an out-of-state assisted suicide death. As the 2024 OHA report states:
Previously, residence information was collected from the patient’s death certificate. However, for patients who die outside of Oregon and are not Oregon residents, OHA has no way to obtain notice of those deaths.
Since the OHA does not receive a death certificate for a non-resident assisted suicide death, it cannot be determined if there were only 23 out-of-state residents who died by assisted suicide in Oregon in 2024.
It must be noted that the assisted suicide bill that passed in the New York state Assembly and Senate that has not been signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul does not have a residency requirement and would allow suicide tourism in New York.
When a person dies without family to take care of a funeral, the state becomes financially responsible for dealing with the body. Suicide tourism would exasperate this problem.
Contact New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Contact Link) or call her at: 518-474-8390 and urge her to veto the assisted suicide bill and prevent assisted suicide tourism in New York.
This article was originally published on Alex Schadenberg’s blog. It is reprinted here with permission.
