Forty-nine die in '07 under Death With Dignity Act
By Don Colburn, The Oregonian, March 19, 2008
Forty-nine terminally ill Oregonians ended their lives last year by taking a lethal drug dose prescribed under Oregon's unique Death With Dignity Act, state health officials reported today. That's the highest total in the 10-year history of the law, three more deaths than in 2006.
The new figures show a continuation of the same patterns as previous annual reports. People who choose to end their lives this way typically are older than 55, white, insured and educated. Most had cancer and died at home under hospice care.
"There really isn't very much new here," said Dr. Katrina Hedberg. a medical epidemiologist with the Department of Human Services and co-author of the 10th annual report on the law. See the full report here.
The only complications noted in the report: Three patients regurgitated some of the medication, and one patient survived, comatose, for three-and-a-half days. None woke up.
During 2007, Oregon doctors wrote 85 prescriptions for a lethal drug dose requested by a terminally ill patient, 20 more than the year before. Of those 85 patients, 46 took the medication, 26 died of their underlying disease and 13 were still alive at the end of the year. In addition, three patients died from taking a drug prescribed the year before.
Oregon is the only state where it is legal for a doctor to prescribe, on request, a lethal drug dose. The patient must make the request orally and in writing, with a 15-day waiting period between requests. The patient must be able to swallow the drug without help from a doctor or anyone else.
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