By Margaret Dore, Esq.
Oregon's assisted suicide statistics are out for 2012.[1]
This annual report is
similar to prior years. The preamble implies that the deaths were
voluntary (self-administered), but the information reported does not
address that subject.[2]
Oregon's assisted
suicide law allows the lethal dose to be administered
without oversight.[3] This creates the opportunity for an heir,
or someone else who will benefit from the patient's death, to administer
the lethal dose to the patient without his consent, for example, when
the patient is asleep. Who would know?
The new Oregon report provides the following demographics:
"Of the 77 DWDA deaths during 2012,
most (67.5%) were aged 65 years or older; the median age was 69 years.
As in previous years, most were white (97.4%), [and] well-educated
(42.9% had at least a baccalaureate degree) . . . ."[4] Most (51.4%)
had private health insurance.[5]
Typically persons with
these attributes are seniors with money, which would be the middle class
and above, a group disproportionately victims of financial abuse and
exploitation.[6]
As set forth above,
Oregon's law is written so as to allow the lethal dose to be
administered to patients without their consent and without anyone
knowing how they died. The law thus provides the opportunity for the
perfect crime. Per the new report, the persons dying (or killed) under
that law are disproportionately seniors with money, a group
disproportionately victimized by financial abuse and exploitation.
Oregon's new report is consistent with elder abuse.
Footnotes:
[1] The new report can be viewed here: http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year15.pdf and http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/year-15-2012.pdf
[2] Id.
[3] Oregon's law can be viewed here: http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/ors.aspx
[4] Report cited at note 1.
[5] Id.
[6] See "Broken Trust: Elders, Family, and Finances,"
a Study on Elder Financial Abuse Prevention, by the MetLife Mature
Market Institute, the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder
Abuse, and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
March 2009.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013303120037
The Montana Legislature
is considering the question of physician-assisted suicide. The Senate
has rejected an Oregon-style bill that would have legalized such a
practice. The House has passed House Bill 505, which will end the
confusion about assisted suicide in Montana. I am in favor of this bill
and wish to clarify misconceptions expressed in a Viewpoint article
published March 4.
HB
505 seeks to clarify the relevant law, which has been misinterpreted as
a result of the Montana Supreme Court Baxter decision of 2009. This
decision did not legalize physician assisted suicide, contrary to claims
made by authors of the Viewpoint article. The court only stated that a
patient’s consent, if given, may be used as a legal defense. Lawyers are
scratching their heads about the meaning and the ramifications of this
decision which is why the Legislature should act to provide needed
clarity.
HB 505
only addresses the aiding or solicitation of suicide, including
physician-assisted suicide. It specifically “does not include end of
life palliative care in which a dying person receives medication to
alleviate pain that may incidentally hasten the dying person’s death or
any act to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment” authorized by
the Montana Rights of the Terminally Ill Act. The quotes are directly
from the text of HB 505.
Please contact your senators and tell them
to end the confusion. Please tell them to vote “yes” on HB 505.— Rick Blevins, M.D.,
http://mtstandard.com/news/opinion/mailbag/don-t-make-washington-s-assisted-suicide-mistake/article_10022e80-8b75-11e2-b398-001a4bcf887a.html?print=true&cid=print
My husband and I operate two adult family homes (elder care
facilities) in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. I am
writing to urge you to not make Washington’s mistake.
Our assisted
suicide law was enacted by a ballot measure in November 2008. During
the election, the law was promoted as a right of individual people to
make their own choices. That has not been our experience. We have also
noticed a shift in the attitudes of doctors and nurses towards our
typically elderly clients to eliminate their choices.
Four days after the election, an adult child of one of our clients asked about getting the pills (to kill his father). It wasn’t
the client saying that he wanted to die. At that time, our assisted
suicide law had not yet gone into effect. The father died before the law
went into effect.
Since then, we have noticed that some members
of the medical profession are quick to bring out the morphine to begin
comfort care without considering treatment. Sometimes they do this on
their own without telling the client and/or the family member in charge
of the clients care.
Since our law was passed, I have also
observed that some medical professionals are quick to write off older
people as having no quality of life whereas in years past, most of the
professionals we dealt with found joy in caring for them. Our clients
reciprocated that joy and respect.
Someday, we too will be old. I,
personally, want to be cared for and have my choices respected. I, for
one, am quite uncomfortable with these developments. Don’t make our
mistake.
Elizabeth Benedetto
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/mailbag/possible-expansion-of-physician-assisted-suicide-laws-in-other-states/article_e29d5322-8b2c-11e2-aba7-001a4bcf887a.html
I am doctor in Washington state where physician-assisted
suicide is legal for “terminal patients” predicted to have less than six
months to live. I disagree with the letter by Kristen Wood (letter,
Feb. 28) that expansion is not a concern in this context.
In
Washington state, our assisted suicide law has only been in effect for
four years. We have, however, already had proposals to expand that law
to direct euthanasia of non-terminal people. See e.g., Brian Faller,
“Perhaps it’s time to expand Washington’s Death with Dignity Act,” Nov.
16, 2011. Last year, there was also this article in the Seattle Times,
suggesting euthanasia for people who cannot afford their own care, which
would be involuntary euthanasia: Jerry Large, “Planning for old age at a
premium,” March 8, 2012 at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2017693023.html
(“After Monday’s column, . . . a few (readers) suggested that if you
couldn’t save enough money to see you through your old age, you
shouldn’t expect society to bail you out. At least a couple mentioned
euthanasia as a solution.“)
I am very concerned with where this is all going. I hope that Montana does not follow our lead to legalize assisted suicide.
Richard Wonderly,
Seattle, Washington
