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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.
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