FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oregon Issues Grossly Inadequate Report -- Again

Olympia -- The tenth annual "Death with Dignity" report released today by the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is "deeply flawed," said Dr. Shane Macaulay, a member of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, the organization leading opposition to Washington's Initiative 1000, which would legalize assisted suicide.

"From what we can see in the Oregon report, there are some alarming trends," said Macaulay, "the number of reported prescriptions and deaths have tripled since the first year assisted suicide was legalized, with a 30 percent increase in just the past year."

Other "troubling" statistics in the report, according to Macaulay:

• Not one patient was referred for psychological evaluation - highlighting that mental health evaluation isn't required in Oregon or Washington.
• Some patients were given lethal prescriptions even though they had known the doctor less than one week.
• At least one patient lived for a year and a half after receiving a prescription, even though only those with six months or less to live are permitted be given the lethal drugs, according to Oregon law.

"Washington assisted suicide advocates say the law has safeguards, but the Oregon report shows that so-called safeguards do not work," said Macaulay.

Oregon is the only state that permits assisted suicide, with a law similar to the one being proposed for Washington.

"Assisted suicide advocates are chanting their usual 'it's-working- well-in-Oregon' mantra," Macaulay said, "but the fact is that the reality in Oregon is shrouded in secrecy."

"Nobody really knows what is happening with Oregon assisted suicide," said Macaulay. "There is no way to verify the reliability of the reports issued by the State. Under the assisted suicide law, the State has no authority to investigate abuses or physician noncompliance. It's a listing of whatever was provided to them and nothing more."

The Oregon Health Division itself said, "We cannot determine whether physician-assisted suicide is being practiced outside the framework of the Act." (A. E. Chin et al "Legalized Physician Assisted Suicide in Oregon - The First Year's Experience" [NEJM vol 340 no. 7 pp 577-83]

"In the decade since the passage of Oregon's law, more than twenty states have considered and rejected Oregon-style laws. Each time, Oregon's annual reports have been trotted out as 'proof' that Oregon serves as a role model for an effective, problem-free assisted suicide law. But every state has rejected those claims in part because of the abuses that have come to light," Dr. Macaulay continued.

"The Oregon law, like the Washington proposal, does not require family notification. Oregon's official reports do not show how many of these assisted suicides occurred without families even knowing until it was too late," he continued.

Dr. Macaulay also pointed out that Oregon officials charged with formulating the annual reports acknowledge that official statistics are based on "self-reports" by the very doctors who prescribe the lethal drugs. "The first official report noted that physician accounts may be untrue but that those responsible for formulating the reports assume 'that physicians were their usual careful and accurate selves.' Nothing has changed since that first year," he said.

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