An Oregon bill would expand the state’s current law to permit physician assistants and nurse practitioners to prescribe “medication” to help a person to commit suicide.
Senate Bill 1003 changes the term “attending physician” to “prescribing provider,” and “consulting physician” to “consulting provider.” The term “provider” would be defined as a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner under Oregon law. This bill represents the first time that non-physicians would be authorized to assist the killing of a person in the United States.
Nurses participate in the euthanasia and assisted suicide of persons in Canada, where the country’s “Medical Assistance In Dying” (MAiD) rates are already high and continuing to increase. According to 2023 statistics, these practitioner-assisted killings account for 4.7%, or 1 in 20 deaths, in Canada.
In the United States, assisted suicide organizations continually seek its expansion, yet the U.S. numbers aren’t yet even close to Canada’s; assisted suicide rates in California in 2023 were a mild 0.3% of the population comparatively.
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Oregon is not the only state with an expansion bill this year. Vermont also has a bill to expand its assisted suicide law. According to Alex Schadenberg of the Euthansia Prevention Coalition, the “weak link” for assisted suicide activists is that “very few doctors” are willing to be involved with assisted suicide, and “[b]y adding physician assistants and nurse practitioners they will increase the number of providers who are willing to be involved with killing.” This is similar to the business of abortion, with many states having moved away from requiring physicians alone to commit abortions.
In response to Oregon’s bill, Wesley J. Smith of National Review asked, “I wouldn’t trust a PA or NP to diagnose me with six months to live. Would you?” Physician assistants and nurse practitioners provide needed services, but receive far less training than doctors by design. It is difficult even for a trained physician to assess whether “a patient may be suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment” and therefore requiring counseling, under the current law.
In a press release, Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson said:
This bill is dangerous and must be stopped. If passed, it will usher in death on demand available to anyone whether they live in Oregon or not. Instead of providing more opportunities for providers to prescribe toxic cocktails of life-ending drugs making the dehumanizing practice more readily accessible, the Oregon legislature should focus on ensuring that all people facing end-of-life decisions have access to truly compassionate, high-quality palliative care.
This bill would lower the standard of care in order to increase access to assisted suicide.
Editor’s Note, 2/20/25: This post has been edited to add a quote from Oregon Right to Life.
