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Oregon Death with Dignity Act access: 25 year analysis
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  • Published on: 16 May 2024
    Changes in Oregon’s assisted dying law and practice
    • Claud Regnard, Palliative Medicine Physician Retired
    • Other Contributors:
      • Ana Worthington, JD candidate
      • Ilora Finlay, Professor of Palliative Medicine

    We thank Gideonse & Coombes Lee for reading our paper. Their criticism of our analysis is at variance with official reports from the Oregon Health Authority.(1)

    There may be many reasons why there has been a socio-economic change in those accessing an assisted death, but the percentage of those stating financial concerns in their assisted death continues to rise and was 8.2% in 2023, not 5.1% as they claim. The fact that nearly 1 in 10 have this concern requires further examination.

    Oregon produces no details behind prolonged assisted deaths, except that half took between 54 minutes and 137 hours. They also provide no details on how soon after ingestion nine patients re-awakened. Notably, these unwanted events are not included as complications. Washington reported in 2021 that 16% took more than 2 hours to die.(2) It is often claimed that assisted deaths are quick, so the complication of prolonged deaths deserves closer examination.

    It is remarkable to claim that Oregon destroys its confidential patient records in order to protect confidentiality. No health or business organisation is allowed to do this with confidential records since it is counter to good practice. Transparency requires many to keep their records for at least 10 years and this contrasts with the approximately 18 months in Oregon. The key point we made is that this destruction of essential data makes it impossible to carry out retrospective analysis of Oregon’s assisted deaths....

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    Conflict of Interest:
    CR provides content for the website ‘Keep Assisted Dying Out of Healthcare’ and was a member of the content group for the Nuffield Bioethics project on assisted dying from Jan-April 2024.
    IF is a board member of Living & Dying Well and is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well.
    AW was a part-time paid researcher for Living and Dying Well from June 2021 to June 2022
  • Published on: 5 April 2024
    Claims and Facts about Oregon's Death with Dignity Act at 25 years
    • Nicholas L. Gideonse, Hospice Medical Director, Associate Professor of Family Medicine Oregon Health & Science University
    • Other Contributors:
      • Barbara Coombs Lee, President Emerita/Senior Adviser

    This article provides a simplistic perspective, relying heavily on correlation, not causation, to make unproven claims about Oregon’s medical aid-in-dying law and erroneously comparing it to euthanasia laws outside the United States.

    Claim: “...there was an increase in patients feeling a burden and describing financial concerns as reasons for choosing an assisted death.” (p. 1) “Detailed studies are needed to explain the marked change in medical funding for PAS patients in Oregon.” (p. 5)

    Facts: While the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports insurance status, it doesn’t report whether patients used their insurance for medical aid in dying. Only 5.1% of people in Oregon who qualified for medical aid in dying since 1998 noted the financial burden among their reasons for requesting it.

    Claim: "The 2022 report states that the combinations [of medications] have resulted in longer times from ingestion to death…" (p. 3)

    Facts: The median time has risen, but it is still typically less than an hour from ingestion to death. Very few patients experience a significant delay between ingestion and death. Otherwise, there would be a higher median time.

    Claim: “Unfortunately the destruction of OHA records after 1 year makes retrospective analysis impossible.” (p. 4).

    Facts: OHA’s public explanation: “The State KC does collect the names of patients in order to cross-check death certificates. However, the law guarantees the confidential...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.