Oregon Assisted Suicide Not About Unbearable Suffering

When assisted suicide advocates try to sell the public on assisted suicide, they usually describe an eminently dying patient whose suffering cannot be palliated. But once it passes, we soon see that assisted suicide is used by people who have serious fears and concerns, but not untreatable pain.

This is certainly the pattern in Oregon. The Oregon state-published statistics are virtually useless as far as I am concerned, being primarily based on death doctor self reporting, many of whom have a close relationship with the assisted suicide advocacy group Compassion and Choices (formerly Hemlock Society), and the records are destroyed by the state so there can be no independent audit. But I think the reasons cited by patients for wanting a lethal prescription are probably accurate—particularly given the recent study—ignored by the media—that many patients receive assisted suicide while not experiencing significant symptoms. In any event, the AMA Medical News summarizes the reasons cited by patients in Oregon for wanting assisted suicide:

Why do patients use the law? Interviews done with prescribing physicians after patients died showed a variety of reasons for requesting physician-assisted suicide.
- 89.0% feared losing autonomy
- 86.6% were concerned about being less able to engage in enjoyable life activities
- 81.6% feared loss of dignity
- 58.2% feared loss of control of bodily functions
- 39.2% worried about becoming a burden on family, friends and caregivers
- 27.3% had inadequate pain control or had concerns about it
- 2.7% were concerned about financial implications of treatment

These are all important matters that deserve proper and compassionate interventions, not poison pills. But the idea that assisted suicide is about preventing agonizing death is just not true. It is about abandoning patients to serious fears and worries that can be—and often are—ameliorated with proper care.