Here are some more important points in the newly released study, which I discussed more extensively here, that I think deserve special note. It turns out doctors have written lethal prescriptions for patients who weren’t yet suffering serious symptoms of their disease:
No physical symptoms experienced at the time of the request were rated higher than 2 on the 1–5 scale. In most cases, future concerns about physical symptoms were rated as more important than physical symptoms present at the time of the request.
Also, I have charged that the Hemlock Society (now called the euphemistic Compassion and Choices) is really in charge of assisted suicide in Oregon, noting for example that it publishes its own statistics. The study authors used the organization to find their interviewees, which confirms my suspicion:
Compassion and Choices, the referring agency for 82% of the participants, identified 180 potentially eligible family members of whom 68 (38%) participated.
What do you think the chances of the mainstream media picking up on these important findings? Yea, slim and none. I’ll let you know if I am wrong.
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