More Use Oregon Assisted-Suicide Law
Pastor Dale Morgan
More Use Oregon Assisted-Suicide Law*
Thursday March 8, 2007 11:46 PM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A slightly larger number of Oregonians used the
state's assisted-suicide law to end their lives in 2006 than in the year
before, according to a report released Thursday.
The state Department of Human Services said the law was used by 46
people, most of them cancer patients. That was eight more people than in
2005.
People who used the law last year tended to have more formal education
than the average resident, as in years past. But the 2006 group was
slightly older, with a median age of 74 versus 69 in previous years, the
report said.
``The practice has settled into a nice, safe, conservative practice,''
said Barbara Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, which supports the law.
A total of 292 people have died under the 1997 law, which lets
terminally ill, mentally competent adults administer life-ending
medications if they decide their conditions are intolerable.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law last year. It is unique in the
U.S., though similar laws have been considered in other states.