031501Two-Thirds Of Oregon Suicides Feared Being A Burden

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sixtythree percent of the 27 people who killed themselves with lethal drugs in 2000 under Oregon's unique-inthe-nation law legalizing assisted suicide feared bearing a burden on friends, family, or other care givers, according to an official report by Oregon's Health Division. Although the law is supposed to be limited to those who will die within six months, in one case a person prescribed a lethal drug during 1999 was still alive at the end of 2000, a year later.

"Particularly disturbing," said Burke J. Balch, J.D., director of the National Right to Life Committee's Department of Medical Ethics, "is that almost a third - 30% - were motivated by inadequate pain control. In modern medicine, there is no need for anyone to suffer uncontrolled pain. We should be working to improve access to existing means of pain relief, not killing those in pain."

The drugs used to kill patients in Oregon are federally controlled

barbiturates. Although federal law and regulations restrict their use to "legitimate medical purposes," a controversial ruling by Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno in June 1998 authorized their use to assist suicides in Oregon.

A January poll by Wirthlin Worldwide found that 66% of Americans oppose the use of federally controlled drugs for the purpose of assisted suicide and euthanasia while only 23% supported it.

Wirthlin poll question (1,002 adults surveyed, January 5-8, 2001; margin of error, 3.08% in 95 of 100 cases): As you may or may not know, the use of narcotics and other dangerous drugs is generally prohibited by federal law except when a doctor prescribes them for a "legitimate medical purpose." Should the federal government allow use of these federally controlled drugs for the purpose of assisted suicide and euthanasia? Respondents: 23 % yes; 66% no; 11 % don't know/refused.