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 | "The voters of Oregon acted with great humanity when they decided to allow terminally ill people to determine when they have suffered enough." New York Times 1 |
| "How can there be 'death with dignity' when the patient must humbly petition the doctors, then meekly wait for a unanimous ruling?" Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation. 1 |
| "The longer you keep an act in place, the more people become desensitized to it, and it no longer causes the appropriate righteous indignation." William Toffler, MD, national director of Physicians for Compassionate Care. 2 |
Overview:
The Death With Dignity law went into effect in Oregon in 1997. It allows some terminally-ill patients to request assistance in committing suicide. By the end of 2004, 208 individuals had ended their life with the help of lethal prescriptions. The number appeared to be leveling-off at about 40 assisted suicides per year. However, in 2008, the number increased to 60. Physician assisted suicide under the act accounts for only one-seventh of one percent of all deaths in the state.
Individuals who commit suicide via prescription are overwhelmingly motivated by a loss in quality of life:
| 92% reported a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable, |
| 87% reported loss of autonomy, and |
| 78% reported loss of dignity. |
In 2006-JAN, after years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Oregon program is constitutional and legal under current federal laws. It may continue in spite of Federal Government efforts to close it down. However, they left the door open for future federal laws that might outlaw the practice.
Topics covered in this section:
| Activities 1994 to 1997 |
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| Status as of 2009 |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Sheldon Richman, "The fraud of physician assisted suicide," Baltimore Chronicle, 2004-JUN-06, at: http://baltimorechronicle.com/
- Andis Robeznieks, "Assisted-suicide numbers up in Oregon," AmedNews, 2004-APR-5, at: http://www.ama-assn.org/
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Copyright © 1997 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Last updated 2009-MAR-06
Author: Bruce A Robinson
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