During this series on euthanasia and assisted suicide we’ve examined what they are and what they are not, and we’ve examined how these laws are being abused overseas.  In this blog, we’re going to bring this information a little closer to home, literally and figuratively, and talk about the impact of these laws here in the United States, specifically in the states of Oregon and Washington.

On October 27, 1997, Oregon enacted the deceptively named “Death with Dignity Act” which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose. A 2008 study found that more than one out of every 4 people in the study who had requested assisted suicide were depressed.  However in the last 5 years, only 2% of patients requesting assisted suicide were referred for psychological evaluations. To make matters worse for someone who may be understandably upset by a negative diagnosis, as Barbara Wagner discovered, her health plan will not pay for aggressive cancer treatments, but offered her coverage to kill herself.  Something else to consider is that because Oregon doesn’t require oversight or protection, almost 90% of those killing themselves did not have a prescribing physician present. In fact, at least one person who died by assisted suicide in 2015 obtained the lethal dose 1,004 days prior, even though the law requires a 6-month diagnosis.

None of this is to say that oversight is the answer.  Consider the case of Dr. Charles Bentz who had a patient who was understandably depressed due to his cancer diagnosis.  When the cancer specialist who Dr. Bentz had referred his patient to called and asked Dr. Bentz to provide the “second opinion” for his patient to die of assisted suicide, Dr Bentz, knowing his patient was depressed, and therefore not qualified for assisted suicide, refused.  Apparently the cancer specialist continued to call more doctors until he found one who would prescribe death for their mutual patient because the patient eventually died of assisted suicide.

Washington State has had similar experiences.  In 2014, there were 175 lethal prescriptions written, but only 126 assisted suicide deaths.  That means there are potentially 50 lethal doses of prescriptions out there floating around like a ticking time bomb.  What’s going to happen when some poor little child stumbles across one of those pill bottles?

The experiences of doctor-prescribed suicide in the states of Oregon and Washington have proven one thing.  They have proven that when someone has just been given terrible news, when they are suffering, they do not need a doctor coming alongside them with a bunch of pills to kill themselves. What they need is people like us to comfort, support, and encourage them, and to help them find that there’s always a reason to choose life.