Hey Kansas City Star: Oregon’s Suicide Rates Went Up, Not Down!

On August 4, 2018, the Kansas City Star published a guest commentary with this false statement:

National and state level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System suggest that suicide rates have varied slightly, but overall have gone down in Oregon since its Death with Dignity Act went into effect in 1997.

Per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Oregon’s suicide rates WENT UP, NOT DOWN, 28.2 %  See https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/suicide/infographic.html#graphic1

I REQUEST THAT THE KANSAS CITY STAR CORRECT THIS ERROR

Kansas Medical Society Policy Statement

On April 30, 2011, the Kansas Medical Society adopted this statement against physician assisted suicide.  To view a print copy, click here.

ISSUE SUMMARY

Assisted suicide is the intentional advising, encouraging, or assisting another person in the taking of his or her own life, which is illegal in Kansas.  Patient requests for physician assisted suicide should be a signal to the physician that the patient’s needs are unmet and further evaluation to identify the elements contributing to the patient’s suffering is necessary.  Multidisciplinary intervention, including specialty consultation, pastoral care, family counseling and other modalities should be sought as clinically indicated.

"I was afraid to leave my husband alone"

Letter from Oregon resident, Kathryn Judson, Published in the Hawaii Free Press, February 15, 2011.  To view the original letter, click here and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.   

Dear Editor,

Hello from Oregon.

When my husband was seriously ill several years ago, I collapsed in a half-exhausted heap in a chair once I got him into the doctor's office, relieved that we were going to get badly needed help (or so I thought).

To my surprise and horror, during the exam I overheard the doctor giving my husband a sales pitch for assisted suicide. 'Think of what it will spare your wife, we need to think of her' he said, as a clincher.

Now, if the doctor had wanted to say 'I don't see any way I can help you, knowing what I know, and having the skills I have' that would have been one thing. If he'd wanted to opine that certain treatments weren't worth it as far as he could see, that would be one thing. But he was tempting my husband to commit suicide. And that is something different.