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NRL News
Study
Shows Oregon Assisted Suicides Not Result of Pain or Suffering Those whose suicides are assisted by doctors under Oregon’s law that legalized the practice are not experiencing significant suffering or pain at the time of their self-inflicted deaths, according to a major study in a February issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Instead, they are largely motivated by fear of what could occur in the future. Contemporaneously, the state’s Department of Human Services issued its official report on the 49 individuals who died from legal lethal prescriptions in 2007 (the highest annual total yet) and the 13 additional people who were given lethal doses but who had not yet taken them at year’s end (also the highest annual total). The study revealed that not a single person who requested assisted suicide was referred for a psychiatric evaluation. This is significant for two reasons. Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” requires doctors to order such an exam if they believe a patient’s judgment might be psychiatrically or psychologically impaired. The number of patients referred for psychiatric evaluations has steadily declined each year the law has been in effect. Second, clinical depression is the number one cause of suicide. Oregon is the only state to legalize assisted suicide. Since the act took effect in late 1997, 341 assisted suicide deaths have been recorded. The medical journal study, whose lead author was Dr. Linda Ganzini, surveyed family members of 83 Oregon residents who requested physician-assisted suicide. Family members were asked to rate the importance of 28 possible reasons their loved ones requested assisted suicide on a 1–5 scale, with higher scores signaling greater weight. Not one of those surveyed ranked physical symptoms at the time of the request any higher than a 2. Instead, the most important reasons (ranking 4 or higher) were wanting to control circumstances of death, fear of poor quality of life in future, loss of independence in future, loss of dignity, fear of inability to care for self in future, wanting to die at home, fear of worsening pain in future, poor quality of life, and worry about loss of sense of self. The authors concluded, “Concerns about what may be experienced in the future, including physical symptoms, were substantially more powerful reasons than what they experienced at the time of the request.” They warned, “Our data suggests that when talking with a patient requesting PAD [physician-assisted death], clinicians should focus on eliciting and addressing worries and apprehensions about the future with the goal of reducing anxiety about the dying process. Some Oregon clinicians have expressed surprise at the paucity of suffering at the time of the request among these patients. Addressing patients’ concerns with concrete interventions that help maintain control, independence and self care, all in the home environment, may be an effective way to address requests for PAD and improve quality of remaining life.” NRLC Executive Director David N. O’Steen, Ph.D., commented, “Sadly, this data confirms what disability rights and pro-life advocates have emphasized throughout the euthanasia debate. “First, the claim by assisted suicide advocates that it would be used only in extreme situations when there is no other way to cope with pain and suffering has been shown to be false in practice,” O’Steen said. “Second, the tragic result of legalizing death as a ‘solution’ to seemingly intractable problems is that clinicians increasingly accept it as the easiest solution, instead of providing genuine counseling, appropriate psychological evaluations and available positive alternatives.” He concluded, “Imposed death becomes more and more the first rather than the last resort.” |