This article deals with suicide. Anyone experiencing serious depression or suicidal thoughts is encouraged to reach out to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Family members and friends of medically vulnerable people at risk for euthanasia or assisted suicide can also reach out to the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network’s Crisis Lifeline at 1-855-300-HOPE (4673).
(Oregon Right to Life) — A troubled young woman with no physical illness reportedly received a prescription for assisted suicide after faking a diagnosis and impersonating a doctor. The disturbing story underscores the risks inherent in assisted suicide, which has been legal in Oregon since the 1990s.
In December, the group Aging With Dignity – which opposes assisted suicide – released a 12-minute film about 31-year-old Eileen Mihich, who received lethal drugs in Washington State and ingested them in a Portland, Oregon hotel, where she passed away.
The short but powerful video includes recordings made by Mihich, in which she spoke about her difficult childhood and her ongoing mental and emotional challenges.
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“So much of my brain and body has been broken down. I’m barely surviving, taking care of myself all this time,” Mihich said in one of her videos. In another clip, she said she was doing poorly, “laying in bed most days… consuming a lot of social media and processing my own stuff for survival.”
Much of the video centers on an interview with Mihich’s aunt, Veronica Torina, who told the group that her niece “showed up on my doorstep many times over the years” in need of help, sometimes having gone without even bathing herself for an unknown length of time.
Torina said she’s unsure what the exact “sequence of events were that catapulted her into this abyss,” but her niece began to explore assisted suicide. The young woman reportedly considered traveling to the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal for individuals with mental illness. Ultimately, she pursued assisted dying in the U.S. through fraudulent means.
Impersonating a doctor, Mihich fraudulently obtained documents to receive a lethal prescription. Her aunt said it is still “mystifying” how she ultimately obtained the drugs, since it appears Washington regulations surrounding assisted suicide were not heeded. An investigation into the incident is reportedly underway. For a February 4 article on the matter, The Atlantic reportedly reached out to the pharmacist who dispensed the drugs for comment, but did not receive a response.
After obtaining the drugs, Mihich reportedly checked into a Portland hotel room, where she consumed the lethal cocktail and died. Instructions and packaging for the “death with dignity” prescriptions were found in the room after her death.
“A beautiful bright young woman just is gone,” Torina said in the video. “Her life is just gone, because of the best intentions of this policy… but you know, as they say, the road to hell is paved with the best intentions.”
“This needs to be looked at,” she continued. “This needs to be brought out into the open so somebody else doesn’t have to lose a precious person.”
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Assisted suicide is legal in Washington for Washington State residents over the age of 18 who have a terminal diagnosis with an anticipated six months or fewer to live. Opponents of legal assisted suicide often point out, however, that in existing regulations and safeguards are insufficient to prevent abuse, including coercion from family members.
Before Washington, Oregon was the first state in the nation to legalize physician-assisted suicide under the euphemistically titled “Death With Dignity Act,” which was passed in 1994 and took effect in 1997. The law allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to patients diagnosed with a terminal illness and given six months or fewer to live. Loopholes in Oregon’s DWDA criteria have allowed physicians to prescribe death-inducing drugs to patients for a broad swath of reasons, including diabetes, arthritis, and even anorexia, according to official reports, Oregon Right to Life has previously reported.
The rate of assisted suicide prescriptions has increased over time, with a 30% jump in 2023 followed by an 8% increase the following year. Assisted suicides made up about one in every 100 deaths statewide in 2024.
