PORTLAND — The number of people exploiting Oregon's physician-assisted suicides rose in 2003 to 42, according to a report released earlier this year by the Oregon Office of Disease Prevention and Epidemiology.
The Catholic News reported April 22 that fewer physicians who practice euthanasia refer patients for psychological assessment. These same physicians are also spending less time at the deathbeds of victims of assisted suicide.
The 42 killed by physicians in 2003 is an increase from 38 the previous year. The law went into effect in 1997; since then, 171 have succumbed to physician-assisted killing.
In related news, the Dutch Supreme Court Justice responsible in large part for legalizing euthanasia in the Netherlands, Huib Drion, has died. He was 87.
Drion was infamous for his essay “Voluntary Death for Old People,” published in 1991, seven years after retiring from the Supreme Court.
He wrote that the elderly “should be able to walk to a doctor — either their family doctor or a specialist — to get the means by which they can put an end to their lives in a manner that's acceptable for themselves and their loved ones,” as reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The Dutch media coined the term “Drion Pill,” in reference to his proposed two-step suicide system. The term is still synonymous with physician-assisted suicide to this day.
The Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia in 2002.
See also:
Read Robert Castagna's Testimony on Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997
Study: Assisted Suicide Has Frequent Mishaps
Dutch Euthanasia Advocate Drion Dies
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
