The overall suicide rate in Oregon has risen dramatically following the legalization of assisted suicide there. As of 2010, suicide rates were 35% higher in Oregon than the national average. stopmedicalmurder.com
Proponents of assisted suicide claim that “physician aid in dying” is not really suicide because taking a deadly drug is allegedly peaceful. Data from Oregon reveals numerous cases where patients have experienced severe physical and emotional symptoms from the drugs, including feelings of terror, confusion, and vomiting. In some cases, patients fall into a coma for several weeks before they die.
Gregory Hamilton, MD, a Portland psychiatrist pointed out that the Kaiser message caused concern for several reasons. “This is what we’ve been worried about: Assisted suicide would be administered through HMOs and by organizations with a financial stake in providing the cheapest care possible,” he said. Furthermore, despite promoters’ claims that assisted suicide would be strictly between patients and their long time, trusted doctors, the overt recruitment of physicians to prescribe the lethal drugs indicated that those claims were not accurate. Instead, “if someone wants assisted suicide, they go to an assisted-suicide doctor – not their regular doctor.” patientsrightscouncil.org
If a physician opposes assisted suicide or believes the patient does not qualify under the law, Compassion and Choices of Oregon (C & C) or its predecessor organizations has often arranged the death. According to Dr. Peter Goodwin, the group’s former medical director, about 75% of those who died using Oregon’s assisted-suicide law through the end of 2002 did so with the organization’s assistance.