- Scott Helman's article about legalizing assisted suicide in Massachusetts implies that doing so will eliminate violent suicides. I am physician in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Official statistics from the state of Oregon do not support this claim.
- Based on an Oregon Public Health report released in 2010, Oregon's overall suicide rate, which excludes suicide under Oregon's assisted suicide act, is 35% above the national average. The report documents that the rate has been "increasing significantly since 2000."
- Just three years prior, in 1997, Oregon legalized assisted suicide. Suicide has thus increased, not decreased, with legalization of assisted suicide. Moreover, many of these deaths are violent. For 2007, which is the most recent year reported on Oregon's website, "[f]irearms were the dominant mechanism of suicide among men." The claim that legalization prevents violent deaths is without factual support.
- Factual support for the above statistics:
- Oregon Health Authority News Release September 9, 2010 at http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/news/2010news/2010-0909a.pdf and,
- "Suicides in Oregon, Trends and Risk Factors," Executive Summary, p.4, at http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/InjuryFatalityData/Documents/Suicide%20in%20Oregon%20Trends%20and%20risk%20factors.pdf
- William L. Toffler MD
- Professor of Family Medicine
- Oregon Health & Science University
- Portland OR
Pages to Show
- Mass Home
- Choice is an Illusion, Main Site
- John Norton: A Cautionary Tale
- Dore Memo Opposing H.1991
- Memo to Joint Judiciary Committee
- Papers Say No to Question 2
- Young Man Actively Suicidal After Watching Brittany Video
- Don't Rob Them of Hope Brittany
- Ballot Question 2 Talking Points
- Fact Check!
- Oregon: Studies Invalid
Sunday, June 10, 2012
In Oregon, other suicides have increased with legalization of physician-assisted suicide
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Theresa Schrempp Letter to the Boston Globe: "Even the composition of the photo is the same"
Dear Editor:
I am a lawyer in Washington State where assisted suicide was unfortunately legalized by an initiative in 2008. I couldn't help but notice that your article promoting a similar initiative in Massachusetts follows the same template as articles that ran here. Even the composition of the photo is the same. ["Dying Wishes, April 29, 2012]
Benedetto Letter to Boston Globe
Dear Editor:
My wife and I operate an elder care facility in Washington State where assisted-suicide is legal. I am writing to urge your readers to vote against assisted-suicide.
Washington's law was passed by a ballot measure in November 2008. Four days after the election, an adult child of one of our clients asked about getting "them pills" (to kill the father). It wasn't the father saying that he wanted to die.
Since the act passed, we have also noticed that some members of the medical profession are quick to bring out the morphine to begin comfort care without considering treatment. Sometimes they do this on their own without telling the client and/or the family member in charge of the client's care.
I have also observed that some medical professionals are quick to write off older people as having no quality of life whereas in years past, most of the professionals we dealt with found joy in caring for them. Our clients reciprocated that joy and respect.
Someday, we too will be old. I, personally, want to be cared for and have my choices respected. I, for one, am quite uncomfortable with these developments. I hope that you can prevent assisted suicide.
Juan Carlos Benedetto
My wife and I operate an elder care facility in Washington State where assisted-suicide is legal. I am writing to urge your readers to vote against assisted-suicide.
Washington's law was passed by a ballot measure in November 2008. Four days after the election, an adult child of one of our clients asked about getting "them pills" (to kill the father). It wasn't the father saying that he wanted to die.
Since the act passed, we have also noticed that some members of the medical profession are quick to bring out the morphine to begin comfort care without considering treatment. Sometimes they do this on their own without telling the client and/or the family member in charge of the client's care.
I have also observed that some medical professionals are quick to write off older people as having no quality of life whereas in years past, most of the professionals we dealt with found joy in caring for them. Our clients reciprocated that joy and respect.
Someday, we too will be old. I, personally, want to be cared for and have my choices respected. I, for one, am quite uncomfortable with these developments. I hope that you can prevent assisted suicide.
Juan Carlos Benedetto
Friday, May 18, 2012
Boston Globe: Philip Moran & Karen Schneiderman
May 13,
2012 http://articles.boston.com/2012-05-13/magazine/31664040_1_human-life-physicians-suicide
ON DEATH AND DYING
“Dying Wishes” in the April 29 Globe Magazine refers to “Death
with Dignity” instead of what it really is: “physician-assisted suicide.” As
stated by then chief justice William Rehnquist in the 1997 case of Washington v.
Glucksberg, “An examination of our Nation’s history, legal traditions, and
practices demonstrates that Anglo American common law has punished or otherwise
disapproved of assisted suicide for over 700 years.” He goes on to state that
there are at least five government interests to support that history. They are
prohibiting killing and preserving human life; preventing the serious public
health problem of suicide, especially among the young, the elderly, and those
suffering from untreated pain or depression; protecting the medical profession’s
integrity; protecting the poor, elderly, disabled, and persons in other
vulnerable groups from pressure to end their lives; and avoiding a possible
slide toward voluntary and even involuntary euthanasia. I submit these are more
than sufficient reasons to vote “No” on this ballot question.
Philip D. Moran / Salem
Philip D. Moran / Salem
With fear and rage I respond to the article “Dying Wishes.” A ballot
question? The idea of people voting on the worth of a human being is sickening,
but my greatest fear has to do with the notion that if a person chooses to
request assistance dying, that person is clearly depressed. During such
depression it is impossible to make a clear decision. We all have such periods,
sick or not, but almost always, with time or therapy or medication or support,
that feeling goes away. As a person with a lifelong disability, I have had
serious health crises and wished to terminate my life, but I have been fortunate
to have medical care and family and friends to help me through my struggles.
Those who are not so fortunate rely on the medical establishment. For those of
us with disabilities and for elderly folks, our value in this society is already
less significant, and we need to rely on physicians to help keep us alive,
rather than kill us in the name of compassion.
Karen Schneiderman / Jamaica Plain
Karen Schneiderman / Jamaica Plain
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