According to the 2016 assisted suicide report, put out by Oregon’s Public Health Division, there were 133 reported assisted suicide deaths in 2016. There were 204 lethal prescriptions obtained in 2016. Once the prescribing physician writes the prescription, the law does not require further oversight. After the person’s death, the prescribing physician is required to write a report. However, the doctor is not required to be present at the death. In fact, the prescribing physician was only present at 13 of the 133 deaths assisted suicide deaths in 2016. These situations open the door to abuse of the law because doctors are rarely at the death and will be very unlikely to self-report abuses of the law.
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