Many assisted suicides seem to be needless.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Contrary to The Register-Guard's editorial on March 22, the Oregon Health Department's recent release of the 2007 report concerning Oregon's Death with Dignity Act proves one thing: Oregon's assisted suicide experiment does not work as voters were led to believe it would.

Last year's deaths by doctor-assisted suicide are three times the number of deaths in 1997, the year Oregon's law became functional. While proponents of the law say that only three more patients killed themselves under the law last year than the year before, that is a misleading picture of how dramatically suicides have increased. The number of lethal prescriptions written also has skyrocketed.

The most frightening figure, however, is zero the number of patients seeking physician-assisted suicide who were referred for psychiatric exams in 2007.

The Register Guard's absurd and unsubstantiated statement that 'physician assisted death ... is a conscious, deliberate choice made by mentally sound individuals' flies in the face of all reality. It is a substantiated fact that clinical depression is the No. 1 cause of suicide. Yet last year, not one single patient seeking to end his or her life by means of the assisted suicide law was referred to a professional counselor because of depression!

When surveyed a few years ago, a majority of Oregon physicians admitted they could not recognize clinical depression in their patients. There are at least two documented cases of mentally incapable patients receiving lethal prescriptions under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.

'Pain or fear of pain' continued to be the least-used reason for those requesting suicide. Supporters of assisted suicide long have maintained that assisted suicide is necessary for those suffering from intractable pain; however, there has been no documented case of assisted suicide being used for untreatable pain.

Dr. Linda Ganzini, professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, surveyed family members of 83 Oregon patients who requested assisted suicide. Published by the Journal of General Internal Medicine in February of this year, the study by Ganzini et al emphasizes this truth:

'No physical symptoms experienced at the time of the request were rated higher than 2 on a 1 to 5 scale. In most cases, future concerns about physical symptoms were rated as more important than physical symptoms present at the time of the request.'

Ganzini concludes, 'Our data suggests that when talking with a patient requesting (assisted suicide), clinicians should focus on eliciting and addressing worries and apprehensions about the future with the goal of reducing anxiety about the dying process.

'Some Oregon clinicians have expressed surprise at the paucity of suffering at the time of the request among these patients. Addressing patient concerns with concrete interventions that help maintain control, independence and self-care, all in the home environment, may be an effective way to address requests for (assisted suicide) and improve quality of remaining life.'

Ganzini's study confirms that instead of having their fears and concerns ministered to, many patients are being abandoned at their critical time of need and left to indulge their fears by succumbing to a needless suicide.

The facts are now conclusive: Oregon's assisted suicide experiment has failed the very patients it was intended to serve.

Gayle Atteberry of Eugene is executive director of Oregon Right to Life.