Statistics Released Today

Contact: Greg Eddleston; geddleston@deathwithdignity.org / (503) 228.4415

Portland, OR – Today, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) released the sixth annual report on the Death with Dignity law.  The DHS, an independent, non-partisan state agency, is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Oregon law.  The report provides a summary of the experiences of patients and physicians who participated in the law during its sixth year of implementation (January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2003) as well as a comparison of demographic information from the preceding years.

“For the sixth consecutive year, the annual report demonstrates the responsible and exacting care with which Oregonians have implemented this law,” said Scott Blaine Swenson, Executive Director of the Death with Dignity National Center.  “The Death with Dignity law provides comfort and peace of mind to those at life’s end – regardless of whether they choose to use it.  And the improvements in care that the law has spurred cannot be overlooked.”

The report’s findings include:

1. 42 individuals availed themselves of the law in 2003 (approximately one-seventh of 1% of the 31,000 total deaths in the state last year);
2. All the individuals were covered by health insurance;
3. 93% were enrolled in hospice care;
4. Those choosing Death with Dignity were well-educated (48% with college degrees) and cited loss of autonomy, decreasing ability to engage in enjoyable activities and loss of dignity as their primary end-of-life concerns;
5. More than 90% were able to die at home;
6. Cancer was the most common disease.   

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Death with Dignity law.  The law, passed by Oregon voters in 1994, was delayed in its implementation until late 1997.

The Oregon Death with Dignity law is currently under attack by the Ashcroft Justice Department (Oregon v. Ashcroft).  A ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is pending.

For up-to-the minute information on the Death with Dignity law, the litigation, and efforts at end-of-life care reform in other states, please visit: www.deathwithdignity.org.

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