1. Carol Ward
Physician Assisted Suicide

3. Number of deaths from
terminal illness - 2010
 Heart disease: 597,689
 Cancer: 574,743
 Alzheimer's disease: 83,494
 Diabetes: 69,071
Center for Disease Control, Deaths and Mortality

4. Definition:
 Assisted suicide occurs when a
physician provides a patient
with the medical means and/or
the medical knowledge to
commit suicide.
American Medical Association, CEJA Report 8 – I-93,
Physician-Assisted Suicide

5. Death with Dignity Act
 allows terminally-ill Oregonians to
end their lives through the voluntary
self-administration of lethal
medications, expressly prescribed by a
physician for that purpose.
Oregon Health Authority Public Health

6. The law states that, in order
to participate, a patient must be:
 18 years of age or older,
 A resident of Oregon,
 Capable of making and communicating
health care decisions for him/herself, and
 Diagnosed with a terminal illness that will
lead to death within six (6) months.
Oregon Health Authority Public Health

7. The following steps must be fulfilled:
 The patient must make two oral
requests to the attending physician,
separated by at least 15 days;
 The patient must provide a written
request to the attending physician, signed
in the presence of two witnesses,
at least one of whom is
not related to the patient;
 The attending physician and a consulting
physician must confirm the patient's
diagnosis and prognosis;
Oregon Health Authority Public Health

8. Steps continued:
 The attending physician and a consulting
physician must determine whether the
patient is capable of making and
communicating health care decisions for
him/herself;
 If either physician believes the patient's
judgment is impaired by a psychiatric
or psychological disorder (such as
depression), the patient must be referred
for a psychological examination;
Oregon Health Authority Public Health

9. Steps continued:
 The attending physician must inform the
patient of feasible alternatives to the
Act including comfort care, hospice care,
and pain control;
 The attending physician must request, but
may not require, the patient to
notify their next-of-kin of the prescription
request.
 A patient can rescind a request
at any time and in any
manner.
Oregon Health Authority Public Health

10. “It leads down a slippery slope
to indiscriminate killing of the
ill, weak, and disabled, among
others.”
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine,
Topics : Physician-Assisted Suicide

11. “Requests for death are induced
by poor care and/or
unrecognized psychological
needs.”
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine,
Topics : Physician-Assisted Suicide

12. “The practice damages
physicians by desensitizing
them to human needs.”
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine,
Topics : Physician-Assisted Suicide

13. Jim and Margie Carberry
ABC News, Advocates for Assisted Dying Deflated
by Massachusetts Defeat, November 12, 2012

14. New York Times, How the ‘Death With Dignity’ Initiative Failed
in Massachusetts, December 6, 2012

15. Compassion & Choices,
http://www.compassionandchoices.org

18. “There is a certain right by
which we may deprive a
man of life, but none by
which we may deprive him
of death; this is mere
cruelty.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche