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For Immediate Release Thursday, March 06, 2003
REASONS FOR DEATH BROADEN WIDELY IN OREGON’S FIFTH YEAR OF LEGAL ASSISTING SUICIDE
84% of the 38 people who killed themselves with lethal drugs in 2002 under Oregon’s unique-in-the-nation law legalizing assisting suicide were motivated by fear of “losing autonomy,” according to an official report by Oregon’s Health Division. “Advocates of legalizing assisted suicide had claimed it would be used only in dire circumstances, as a last resort,” said Burke J. Balch, J.D., director of the National Right to Life Committee’s department of medical ethics. “Tragically, however, the report just released fulfills the fears of euthanasia opponents that once assisted suicide is accepted for ‘hard cases’ it will spread to more and more circumstances until it is justified as just another ‘choice’– an exercise of ‘autonomy.’ This apparently motivated more than 4 out 5 of those who died through assisted suicide in Oregon last year.” Statistics released by the Oregon Health Division showed a 57% jump in the number of assisted suicide deaths in 2002 over the previous year. “It is also troubling that over a third (37%) of those whose suicides were legally assisted in Oregon in 2002 feared being a burden on family, friends, or caregivers,” Balch commented. “This shows that the so-called ‘right to die’ is becoming a perceived ‘duty to die.’ “Over a quarter (26%) feared inadequate pain control. In modern medicine, there is no need for anyone to suffer uncontrolled pain. We should be working to improve access to existing means of pain relief, not killing those in pain.” The drugs used to kill patients in Oregon are federally controlled barbiturates. Federal law and regulations restrict their use to “legitimate medical purposes,” and in November 2001 Attorney General Ashcroft ruled they could therefore not be used to kill patients through assisted suicide. This ruling was challenged by the State of Oregon and euthanasia doctors in federal court, and it is currently not in effect pending a decision on its validity by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision, when issued, will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. |