physician-assisted suicide laws in oregon allow doctors to do what?

Topic:
SUICIDE; DEATH; RIGHT TO Dice; EVICTION; PHYSICIANS;
Location:
SUICIDE - ASSISTED;
Telescopic:
Courtroom Cases; Other States laws/regulations;

Jan 22, 2002		2002-R-0077
OREGON'Due south ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW
By: Sandra Norman-Eady, Chief Attorney

You asked for information on Oregon ' due south assisted suicide constabulary.

SUMMARY

Oregon ' due south Expiry with Dignity Act allows terminally sick Oregon residents to obtain and use prescriptions from their physicians for self-administered, lethal medications. Physicians and patients who follow the act ' s requirements are protected from criminal prosecution, and the option of legal physician-assisted suicide cannot affect the condition of a patient ' s health or life insurance policy.

Oregonians outset passed the act in a November 1994 referendum by a margin of 51% to 49%. However, a legal injunction delayed its immediate implementation. It was not until 1997 when the Ninth Excursion Court of Appeals lifted the injunction that md-assisted suicide became a legal pick for terminally sick patients in Oregon. Since that fourth dimension, lxx people have ended their lives with the help of a doctor. Only, people ' s ability to utilise the police force is again threatened.

The latest outcome is whether assisted suicide is a "legitimate medical purpose" within the significant of the 1970 Federal Controlled Substances Act. Nether the human action, physicians tin can prescribe federally regulated drugs for legitimate purposes just. In a November 2001 letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Chaser General John Ashcroft, citing United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers ' Cooperative , 532 U.S. 483 (2001), stated that assisted suicide is inconsistent with the public interest. Oregon ' s attorney full general was successful in obtaining a temporary restraining lodge on Ashcroft ' due south directive. A hearing on the directive is expected in April.

In Oakland Cannabis Buyers ' , the U.S. Supreme Court held cooperatives that distributed marijuana for medical purposes violated the Controlled Substance Human action because marijuana has no proven medical value, a necessity for distributing controlled substances. OLR Report 2001-R-0894 provides a more than detailed analysis of this case.

As stated earlier, 70 patients accept died from doctor-assisted suicide since 1997. Near of these patients had some form of cancer and stated the fear of losing autonomy every bit their chief reason for wanting to end their lives. Oregon ' south health department does not keep statistics on the total number of physicians writing legal prescriptions, but it does study that physicians wrote a total of 96 lethal prescriptions between 1997 and 2001.

Death WITH DIGNITY—OREGON ' Southward ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW

The Death with Dignity Act (ORS �� 127.800 to 127.897) allows terminally ill Oregon residents to obtain and use prescriptions from their physicians for self-administered, lethal medications. Under the Act, ending one's life in accordance with the police does non constitute suicide. Even so, the law is referred to as "md-assisted suicide" because information technology allows people to stop their lives through the voluntary cocky-assistants of lethal medications prescribed past a doc for that purpose.

The Death with Dignity Human activity legalizes physician-assisted suicide, but specifically prohibits euthanasia, where a physician or other person directly administers a medication to end another's life.

To request a prescription for lethal medications, the Expiry with Dignity Human activity requires that a patient voluntarily express his wish to die and be:

1. an adult (age xviii or older),

2. an Oregon resident,

iii. capable (able to make and communicate health care decisions), and

4. diagnosed with a terminal affliction (incurable and irreversible) that will lead to expiry within six months.

Patients coming together these requirements are eligible to request a prescription for lethal medication from a licensed Oregon dr.. To receive a prescription for lethal medication, the following steps must be fulfilled:

1. the patient must brand two oral requests to his physician, separated by at least fifteen days;

ii. the patient must provide a written, witnessed request to his physician (2 witnesses);

three. the prescribing physician and a consulting doctor must confirm the diagnosis and prognosis;

4. the prescribing doc and a consulting physician must determine whether the patient is capable;

v. if either doc believes the patient ' s judgment is dumb by a psychiatric or psychological disorder, he must refer the patient for a psychological examination;

vi. the prescribing physician must inform the patient of feasible alternatives to assisted suicide, including comfort care, hospice care, and pain command; and

7. the prescribing dr. must asking, but may not require, the patient to notify his side by side-of-kin of the prescription request.

To comply with the law, physicians must study to Oregon Health Services (OHS) all prescriptions for lethal medications. Reporting is non required if patients begin the asking process but never receive a prescription. Physicians must inform pharmacists of the prescribed medication'southward ultimate utilize. Physicians and patients who adhere to the human activity ' s requirements are protected from criminal prosecution, and the choice of legal physician-assisted suicide cannot affect the status of a patient ' s health or life insurance policies. Physicians and wellness care systems are under no obligation to participate in the Decease with Dignity Act.

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

Tabular array 1 shows a chronology of events, starting with the dates Oregon voters passed the Death with Nobility Human action and catastrophe with the engagement a trial is expected to begin on whether physicians can prescribe controlled substances for utilise in suicides.

TABLE 1: CHRONOLOGY OF ASSISTED SUICIDE IN OREGON

Dates	Events
November viii, 1994	Oregon voters passed Expiry with Dignity Act (Measure 16) by a margin of 51% to 49%.
December 27, 1994	A preliminary injunction issued confronting the mensurate.
August three, 1995	A permanent injunction was issued.
February 27, 1997	A iii-judge console of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction.
Oct 14, 1997	The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
November 4, 1997	Oregon voters defeated Measure 51, which would have repealed the Death with Dignity Act, by a vote of lx% to xl%.
1998 (Specific date unknown)	DEA determined that narcotics and other dangerous substances controlled by federal police force could not exist used to aid suicide.
June 5, 1998	U.South. attorney general overruled DEA conclusion, leaving it to united states of america to decide whether controlled substances could be prescribed to assistance suicide.
November six, 2001	U.Due south. chaser general issued a alphabetic character reinstating the original DEA determination, citing the U.S. Supreme Court ' s determination in U.s. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers ' Cooperative , 532 U.Southward. 483 (2001).
November 7, 2001	Oregon ' s chaser general sought a restraining order on the U.S. attorney general ' south letter.
Nov 8, 2001	The court issued a temporary restraining order, effective until November 20, 2001.
November 20, 2001	The court extended the temporary order for four months. A trial is expected in April of 2002.

ASSISTED SUICIDE STATISTICS

In compliance with a mandate in the Death with Nobility Act to develop a reporting arrangement for monitoring and collecting data on medico-assisted suicide, OHS requires physicians to make a written report whenever they write a prescription for lethal medication. OHS uses these reports and data it obtains from physician interviews and reviews of death certificates to confirm patients ' deaths and provide patient demographics. Table 2 shows statistical data OHS obtained and reported in its third almanac study on the Death with Dignity Act. For additional statistical information on Oregon ' s assisted suicide program, visit world wide web.ohd.60 minutes.state.or.us/chs/pas or world wide web.iaetf.org/orstats.htm .

TABLE ii: THREE YEARS Nether OREGON ' S ASSISTED SUICIDE Law

Categories	2000	1999	1998	Total
Number of reported assisted suicide deaths	27	27	sixteen	lxx
Number of reported lethal prescriptions written	39	33	24	96
Commencement doctor asked wrote prescription	eleven	8	8	27
Doctor nowadays when patient took lethal drugs	fourteen	16	viii	38
Median duration (weeks) of patient-doctor relationship before lethal prescription provided	8	22	11	14
Patient Data
Underlying illness: Cancer Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Other*	21 2 0 iv	17 4 four 2	14 0 1 1	52 six 5 vii
Median age in years	69	71	70	seventy
Reasons for requesting assisted suicide: Fright of being a burden Fearfulness of losing autonomy Fearfulness of losing control of bodily function Inadequate pain control Fear of decreasing ability to do enjoyable activities Financial implications Combined concerns of burden, autonomy, activity, and actual functions Other combinations of burden, autonomy, action, and actual functions	17 25 21 eight 21 1 11 15	vii 21 16 7 22 0 iv 17	2 12 9 2 eleven 0 0 13	26 58 46 17 54 0 15 45

Source: Oregon Wellness Department ' s Annual Reports

*Includes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Congestive Heart Failure, multiple-system organ failure, and scleroderma.

SN-East:eh

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Source: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/rpt/2002-r-0077.htm

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