Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon — The Second Year

In 1997, Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act, which legalized physician-assisted suicide. 1 With legalization came concern that physician-assisted suicide might be forced on poor, uneducated, or uninsured patients or that it might be disproportionately chosen by patients receiving inadequate care at the end of life. 2 , 3 We have previously reported that in 1998, the first year after implementation of the act, information on 23 persons who received prescriptions for lethal medications was reported to the Oregon Health Division. 4 Of the 23, 15 died from taking the lethal medications. According to their physicians, the patients requested assistance with suicide because . . .