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History of Oregon’s Law

On November 8, 1994, Oregon became the first government in the world to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The law was ruled unconstitutional due to unequal protection under the law. “What are the boundary lines, if any, to state-sanctioned suicide?” the federal judge asked (Lee v. Oregon). “Where in the Constitution do we find distinctions between the terminally ill with six months to live, the terminally ill with one year to live, paraplegics, the disabled, or any category of people who have their own reasons for not wanting to continue living?”1 In 1997 the Ninth Circuit Court overturned the decision on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to bring the case to court. In November of 1997 a measure which would have repealed the law was rejected by Oregon voters. Oregon became the first jurisdiction in the world to begin experimenting with legalized assisted suicide.

What is Physician-Assisted Suicide?

It is important to distinguish between physician-assisted suicide and refusing medical treatment. Physician-assisted suicide involves a physician prescribing lethal drugs for a patient with the knowledge that the patient intends to use the drugs to commit suicide. Refusing medical treatment is turning down treatment expected to prolong life. What does this mean? Refusing a ventilator, or some other life sustaining machine or treatment is not assisted suicide and is already legal in all states. The intent of refusing medical treatment is not to end life, but to allow nature to take its course. With physician-assisted suicide the intent is to kill the patient. Euthanasia is the lethal injection of the patient by the doctor.

Is There a Right to Physician-Assisted Suicide?

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“For even one patient to be given a lethal overdose instead of being offered hope and treatment for depression or discouragement is a terrible thing.”
Gregory Hamilton, M.D., President Physicians for Compassionate Care

In the 1997 Supreme Court case, Washington v. Glucksberg, physician-assisted suicide was rejected as a constitutional right because “the right to autonomy clashes with the right to life in our constitutional system? Death is the extinguishment of rights, not the triumph of one right over another.”2 The U.S. Supreme Court upheld both the New York and Washington statutes prohibiting assisted suicide in all cases by a 9-0 vote. Physician-assisted suicide is not a right protected by our Constitution.

What Are the Dangers of Legalization?

Opponents of assisted suicide are concerned about the many abuses that could occur if it is legalized. In addition to the many dangerous effects that opponents and judges feel it would have on society’s attitudes towards suicide, they are concerned about:

  • The power and pressures placed on physicians and how it will affect their role as healer.
  • Protecting vulnerable groups including the poor, the elderly, and disabled persons from abuse, neglect and mistakes; “No matter how carefully any guidelines are framed, assisted suicide and euthanasia will be practiced through the prism of social inequality and bias that characterizes the delivery of health care”.3
  • Health care cost containment; “The growing concern about health care cost increases the risks presented by legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia”.4

The main concern about physician-assisted suicide is the inability to create safeguards or contain assisted suicide to any boundaries. In ruling Oregon’s law unconstitutional the federal judge stated that if assisted suicide is legalized, it must be legal for everyone, “The attempt to restrict such rights to the terminally ill is illusory” (Lee v. Oregon).5

Does Physician-Assisted Suicide Work?

Advocates of physician-assisted suicide claim that it is meant for patients in uncontrollable pain with only six months or less left to live. They claim the Oregon law is successful. However, in the years of Oregon’s law, there has not been one documented case of assisted suicide being used for untreatable pain. Instead, patients are using assisted suicide for psychological and social concerns. Since legalizing assisted suicide, Oregonians have seen first-hand what really happens. When physician-assisted suicide is legalized, safeguards don’t work.

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