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Oregon, Washington, Belgium and The Netherlands are the
only places in the world that have laws specifically
permitting assisted suicide.
Oregon's law has become the
"model" that is being or will be considered in other states
and countries. As those proposals are under consideration,
it remains to be seen whether decision-makers will rely on
the deceptively rosy picture painted by assisted-suicide
supporters - or on the documented reality of the Oregon
Experience.
............................
Eleven Years of Assisted Suicide in
Oregon (08 /09)
Fully documented fact sheet with official statistics.
Includes:
What can be learned from eleven years of official reports
from Oregon? What is not contained in the official reports?
How accurate and complete are those reports? What can be
learned from statements of those who are most involved in
implementing and reporting about the Oregon law?
Chart: Statistics of 11 Years of
Assisted Suicide under Oregon's Law (PDF)
"The chilling truth about the city
where they pay people to die"
( Daily Mail - UK - August 8, 2009 )
Lord Joffe is working to pass an assisted-suicide law in the
UK. He and other activists point to Oregon as a model,
saying it ''clearly works'' there. But the facts do not
support that claim. More
"'Right to die' can become a 'duty to
die'"
( Telegraph.co.uk - London, England - February 21, 2009 )
Vulnerable people can be bullied into assisted suicide...
Oregon has become the model for how assisted suicide is
supposed to work. But for those who dig beneath the
sloganeering and feel-good propaganda, it becomes clear that
legalising assisted suicide leads to abandonment, bad
medical practice and a disregard for the importance of
patients' lives.
"Don't follow Oregon's lead--say no to
assisted suicide"
( Calgary Herald - Calgary, Alberta Canada - January 17,
2009 )
I am an internal medicine doctor, practising in Oregon,
where assisted suicide is legal and would like to commend
the Jan. 10 column by Licia Corbella, entitled: ''If doctors
who won't kill are 'wicked,' the world is sick.' '' More
"Oregon assisted suicide at record
high"
( Seattle P-I - Seattle, WA USA - January 9, 2009 )
Advocates of the new Washington law that will soon allow
terminally ill patients to end their lives through lethal
drugs expect Oregon's near-identical law to account for a
record 55 deaths there in 2008. More
"Letter noting assisted suicide raises
questions"
( KATU - Springfield, Oregon USA - November 20, 2008 )
Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva,
but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the
cancer treatment was not approved. Instead, the letter said,
the plan would pay for comfort care, including ''physician
aid in dying,'' better known as assisted suicide.
Video
More
Depressed patients are receiving prescriptions for
assisted suicide in
Oregon.
(British Medical Journal. (Oct. 8, 2008)
"An Open Letter to Baroness Warnock on Assisted
Suicide" (American Thinker; Oct. 4,
2008)
When she said people with Alzheimer's should be able to
appoint someone to request euthanasia for them, Britain's
leading medical ethicist, Baroness Mary Warnock, caused a
firestorm of controversy. A similar, but little known,
proposal was made by those in the forefront of Oregon's
assisted-suicide law and the current Washington State
initiative to legalize assisted suicide.
"Assisted suicide: Conspiracy and control"
(Oregonian;
Sept. 24, 2008)
"Members of Compassion & Choices authored and proclaim they
are the stewards of Oregon's assisted-suicide law....They
have arranged and participated in 3/4ths of Oregon's
assisted-suicide cases."
"Washington state's assisted-suicide measure: Don't go
there"
(Oregonian; Sept. 20, 2008)
"Oregon's physician-assisted program has not been
sufficiently transparent. Essentially, a coterie of
insiders run the program, with a handful of doctors and
others deciding what the public may know."
"Oregon's Suicidal Approach to Health Care"
(American
Thinker; Sept. 14, 2008)
Oregon seems to have found a surefire way to lower health
care costs: Tell the patient you'll pay for drugs that will
end her life, but not those that would extend her life.
Here's how it works."
"Letter
noting assisted suicide raises questions"
(KATU
TV; Portland, OR; July 31, 2008)
Interview with Barbara Wagner who was denied chemotherapy,
but offered assisted suicide, by the Oregon Health Plan.
Includes link to
video interview.
"Fix this medical ethics glitch"
(Oregonian;
Portland, OR; July 29, 2008)
Oregon's willingness to pay for assisted suicide, but not
for treatment, creates an ethical quagmire. "As the only
state that both allows assisted suicide and tries to ration
health care, Oregon has created a fine ethical line for
state officials to navigate. In this case. They stepped
over it."
Oregon Health Plan refuses to pay
for prescribed treatment, but tells patient it will pay for
assisted suicide if she chooses it.
"A Gift of Treatment" (Register-Guard;
Eugene, OR; June 3, 2008)
"Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon: A Medical
Perspective,"
Herbert Hendin, M.D. and Kathleen Foley, M.D.
(Michigan Law Review, Vol. 106; 8, June 2008)
"Oregon's assisted-suicide law:
Revealing Quotes from Those in the Know"
Documented statements made by assisted-suicide
advocates shed light on the assisted-suicide agenda.
(3/26/08)
Oregon Statistics
Chart - "10 Years under Oregon's
Assisted-Suicide Law." (2008)
Ten Years of Assisted Suicide in Oregon
What can be learned from the first ten years of
official reports? What can be learned from the statements of
those who are most involved in implementing and reporting
about the Oregon law? (Fully documented fact sheet,
including official statistics. (3/20/08)
Tenth Official Report
on assisted suicide in Oregon.
(3/18/08)
Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law: Reports & Safeguards
Claims that Oregon's law has been problem free and has
adequate safeguards cannot be verified.
"The Oregon Experience"
The words of those who implement Oregon's law, compile
official reports about it, or prescribe the lethal drugs
clearly show that the so-called safeguards are not
protective and that monitoring of assisted suicide is close
to non-existent. (3/06)
............................
Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law
Text
of Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law.
............................
All Official Annual Reports:
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The First Year Experience
1999 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Second Year Experience
2000 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Third Year Experience
2001 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Fourth Year Experience
2002 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Fifth Year Experience
2003 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Sixth Year Experience
2004 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Seventh Year Experience
2005 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Eighth Year Experience
2006 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Ninth Year Experience
2006 official report on Oregon's assisted
suicide law.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: The Tenth Year Experience
2008 official report
on Oregon's assisted suicide law
Statistics may not be accurate:
Those
responsible for issuing official annual reports have
acknowledged, from the very beginning of Oregon's assisted
suicide law, that the reports may not be accurate or
complete. According to the Oregon Health Division, "The
entire account [given by a doctor] may be a cock and bull
story. We assume, however that physicians were their usual
careful and accurate selves" Source:
CD Summary, Oregon Health Division, section titled
"Study Limitations."
............................
Articles and Analysis:
"Oregon nixes use of term 'physician-assisted suicide':
Right-to-die advocates hope that changing the
language may help pass laws in other states." (AMNews,
11/6/06)
"Emotional and Psychological Effects of Physician-Assisted
Suicide and Euthanasia on Participating Physicians" by
Kenneth R. Stevens, Jr., M.D., FACR
"Many doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS
are adversely affected emotionally and psychologically by
their experiences." (5/06)
DHS News Release
contradicts assisted-suicide advocate's
claims
DHS issued a news release declaring, "The state law
authorizing physician-assisted suicide neither requires nor
authorizes investigations by DHS." (3/4/05)
Proof of
Failed Assisted-Suicide Safeguards in Oregon
Depressed patient given prescription for lethal drugs.
(Paper delivered at American Psychiatric Association Annual
Meeting, 5/6/04)
Doctors of Death
Oregon HMO solicits its doctors to kill. (National
Review Online, 8/19/02)
Oregon's 3rd Annual Assisted-Suicide Report: More of the
same
The most recent official report contains the same flaws
as reports for previous years.(4/01)
Oregon psychologists polled on assisted suicide and state's
PAS law (7/99)
Oregon report on end-of-life care shows need for improvement
(7/99)
Oregon PAS law spun to look good
Oregon Health Division says reported information may be
"cock and bull story" (3/99)
Oregon death highlights discriminatory side of PAS law
Now it's the "purpose" of the law (death) that counts, not
the "safeguards" (3/99)
Oregon issues sketchy first report on assisted suicide
deaths
Assisted suicide supporter admits many cases may be going
unreported (10/98)
Federal judge dismisses latest challenge to Oregon's law
Judge Michael Hogan states that Oregon's law my be incapable
of judicial review( 9/98)
Congressional bills to ban lethal prescriptions spark debate
Excerpts from debate on bills to prohibit prescriptions of
controlled substances for assisted suicide. (7/98)
Reno reverses DEA ruling
Attorney general says DEA will not take action against
doctors who intentionally prescribe fatal doses of
controlled drugs under the provisions of Oregon's assisted
suicide law.(6/98)
Guidelines for assisted suicide in Oregon
State will fund lethal prescriptions (3/24/98)
November-December 1997 IAETF Update
Documented Special Report on the Oregon vote and its
aftermath (1/15/98)
Special Report: Oregon Takes a Closer Look at Assisted
Suicide
In depth look at the campaign to repeal Measure 16
(10/25/97)
Flaws in Measure 16
Documented information about flaws in Oregon's assisted
suicide law (10/25/97)
Liar, Liar
Bigotry and Fraud in the Oregon campaign to repeal Measure
16 (10/19/97)
................
Gonzales v. Oregon
(previously titled,
Oregon v. Ashcroft) The case, regarding the use
of federally controlled substances for assisted suicide, was
decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 17, 2006.
Overview of case, U.S. Supreme Court decision, Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals decision, Text of Ashcroft Directive, ITF
amicus curiae briefs, and more.
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For additional information on Oregon's law permitting
assisted suicide, use the search function found at the
International Task Force Main Page.
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