Doctor-Assisted Suicide Numbers Up in 2006
According to a report released by the state yesterday, 46 patients in Oregon ended their lives with the assistance of their doctors in 2006. This is an increase of more than 20% from the previous year. That brings the total number of doctor-assisted suicides in Oregon to 292 since the law was enacted ten years ago.
In an AP interview, Compassion & Choices president Barbara Lee said about the nation’s only law that allows doctors to assist patients in killing themselves, “The practice has settled into a nice, safe, conservative practice.”
The jury is still out, however, on Ms. Lee’s subjective description of the Oregon Law. Oregonians who oppose doctor-assisted suicide see the practice as neither nice, nor safe, nor conservative.
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In related news, a Colorado Springs woman woke up this week after being in a vegetative state for more than six years. Christa Lilly (right), who suffered a heart attack in 2000, awoke for three days speaking to family and media before slipping into a “minimally conscious state.”
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Yes, the Lilly story is particularly compelling; there is so much yet unknown, but some folks believe that they have all the answers.
I’m totally against government having any say in the most ultimate of personal decisions.
I’m not an expert on the suicide law but I believe it wouldn’t apply to the Colorado woman’s situation. I think it applies to terminally ill and suffering individuals that want to make this choice between themselves, their family, and their doctor.
Government should not be invited in such a decision.
The voters of Oregon invited Government into the decision. Now it’s regulated, tracked and reported upon. How exactly is that private?