Fear of "Burden" Major Reason for Oregon Assisted Suicides.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Sixty-three percent of the 27 people whose suicides were legally assisted under Oregon law in 2000 said they did so because they feared being a burden to family, friends, and other caregivers, according to the official annual report by the Oregon Health Division (OHD). The report, which is the third since Oregon began the practice of legal assisted suicide in 1998, was compiled from health records and telephone interviews with the doctors who participated in legal suicides and was published February 23.

The 63% figure is a big leap from 1999, when only 26% spoke of worries about being a burden as motivating a desire to commit suicide. In a story that appeared in the Oregonian noting the surge in those seeking suicide to avoid burdening others, Dr. Katrina Hedberg, who wrote the OHD report, said that it was "an issue for doctors to address with patients and families." Yet the same report implies the doctor-patient relationship is withering.

The length of time that the doctors and patients had known each other before the physician assisted the patient's suicide reached its all-time low last year. The median length was eight weeks, down from 22 weeks in 1999.

In spite of rising patient concerns over being burdensome and the increasingly brief duration of their relationships with treating physicians, in 2000 only 19% were referred for psychiatric evaluation as compared to 37% the year before, a drop of almost exactly half.

The OHD figures also reveal that patients moved through the process from initial request for suicide until the actual death much faster in 2000. In 1999 the median length of time between a patient's first request for a lethal prescription and the patient's death was 83 days. In 2000 the span fell to 30 days.

OHD noted one remarkable exception - - a patient who obtained a lethal prescription in 1999 and, happily, was still alive at the close of 2000. The assisted suicide law is supposed to be limited to those who will die within six months, but many question medicine's ability to accurately predict death that far in advance.

Particularly disturbing is that almost a third of the 27 patients who were assisted to die last year were also motivated by inadequate pain management. The figure has steadily risen over all three years, while advances in modern medicine have made it possible for virtually all pain to be controlled.