Deaths from assisted suicide in Oregon have risen yet again, for another record high.
The state released its annual assisted suicide report, revealing 560 people were given deadly prescriptions for assisted suicide in 2023, with 367 people dying. That’s a 21% increase from 2022, when 278 people died.
Just three people out of the 560 were referred for a psychiatric evaluation first.
A whopping 92% of people who applied for assisted suicide cited “loss of autonomy” as their reason for wanting to die; the two next most pressing concerns were inability to enjoy activities (88%) and loss of dignity (64%). These were the same reasons cited in previous reports, continuing to affirm that people very rarely pursue assisted suicide as a way to avoid a painful, agonizing death.
Furthermore, the report admitted there were 10 known complications out of 102 deaths, for a nearly 10% complication rate.
It’s not known exactly how many people traveled from outside Oregon specifically to die. The report said:
Information on a patient’s state of residence is not collected during the DWDA prescription process. OHA does not receive death certificates from other states unless the decedent was an Oregon resident. Therefore, if an Oregon DWDA patient dies out of state and was not a resident of Oregon, OHA is unlikely to obtain notice of the death. The out-of-state deaths reported in Table 1 thus may not represent all DWDA deaths from out-of-state residents who obtained a DWDA prescription from an Oregon health care provider.
However, 23 people are known to have traveled to Oregon for assisted suicide. Brittany Maynard is, by far, the most famous person to ever move to Oregon with the express goal of dying, before the residency requirement was removed in 2022 following a lawsuit.
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The report also noted that 78% of all assisted suicide patients were Medicaid or Medicare recipients; this is also noteworthy, as an increase has been noted in “financial concerns” being listed as a reason for seeking assisted suicide. Though it was still only mentioned by 8.2% of people, that number has steadily increased throughout the years. This calls into question whether these patients are being offered proper health care; in both California and Oregon, people have reported being denied treatment for their illnesses by insurance, while assisted suicide would be paid for instead, even when the patient hadn’t previously expressed a wish to die.
In a press release, Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson expressed concern that people aren’t receiving the care they need.
“This year’s Death With Dignity Act report demonstrates our state’s appalling lack of care and respect for the lives of Oregonians and those who travel from out of state to receive these death-inducing drugs. Physician-assisted suicide targets vulnerable people who are made to feel that their lives are no longer valuable or worth living,” she said. “Instead of continuing to prescribe toxic cocktails of life-ending drugs, we should provide truly compassionate measures, ensuring that people facing end-of-life decisions have access to high-quality palliative care.”
Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation president Sharon L. Quick also criticized the legality of death tourism in Oregon.
“Hastening death with lethal drugs is never urgent and never necessary, and there is no guarantee of a ‘peaceful death,'” she said. “Allowing out-of-state residents to come to Oregon for evaluation by a doctor who may not know them and has an even greater chance of missing depression and coercion shows lack of respect for these patients. They may experience pressure to take the drugs quickly without the company of loved ones, given the time and effort of travel and the complications that might ensue if they take them in their home state. A rash decision becomes their last one.”
