Nine in 10,000 Oregonians die by assisted suicide; vulnerable groups not overrepresented

Managed care, assisted suicide, and vulnerable populations.

Suicide assisted by two Swiss right-to-die organisations.

BACKGROUND In Switzerland, non-medical right-to-die organisations such as Exit Deutsche Schweiz and Dignitas offer suicide assistance to members suffering from incurable diseases. OBJECTIVES First, to determine whether differences exist between the members who received assistance in suicide from Exit Deutsche Schweiz and Dignitas. Second, to investigate whether the practices of Exit Deutsche ...

Characteristics and proportion of dying Oregonians who personally consider physician-assisted suicide.

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) became legally available in Oregon in October 1997. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA) limits eligibility to adult Oregon residents who are judged by two physicians to have less than six months to live. Patients must be able to make independent decisions and ingest the lethal dose, and there is a 15-day waiting period between request and receipt of a letha...

Advice and care for patients who die by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking is not assisted suicide

BACKGROUND A competent patient has the right to refuse foods and fluids even if the patient will die. The exercise of this right, known as voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), is sometimes proposed as an alternative to physician assisted suicide. However, there is ethical and legal uncertainty about physician involvement in VSED. Are physicians advising of this option, or making pat...

Suicide assisted by right-to-die associations: a population based cohort study.

BACKGROUND In Switzerland, assisted suicide is legal but there is concern that vulnerable or disadvantaged groups are more likely to die in this way than other people. We examined socio-economic factors associated with assisted suicide. METHODS We linked the suicides assisted by right-to-die associations during 2003-08 to a census-based longitudinal study of the Swiss population. We used Cox ...