Characteristics and Proportion of Dying Oregonians Who Personally Consider Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) became legally available in Oregon in October 1997. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA) limits eligibility to adult Oregon residents who are judged by two physicians to have less than six months to live. Patients must be able to make independent decisions and ingest the lethal dose, and there is a 15-day waiting period between request and receipt of a lethal prescription.1 The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) compiles and reports statistics annually about those who receive a lethal prescription.2 During the first six years of legalization, 171 persons died after ingesting a lethal prescription according to the requirements of the Act. Compared to the average Oregon decedent, PAS users were younger, better educated, and more likely to be Caucasians or Asians dying of chronic diseases. A majority of the 171 PAS users had health insurance, were enrolled in hospice, and all but one died in community settings. According to physicians’ reports, patients most commonly sought PAS because of decreased quality of life, loss of autonomy and control of bodily functions, and feeling they were a burden to family. The DHS data contribute valuCharacteristics and Proportion of Dying Oregonians Who Personally Consider Physician-Assisted Suicide

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