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Physician‐assisted suicide in Oregon: why so few occurrences?
Author(s) -
Wineberg Howard
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2001.tb143314.x
Subject(s) - disadvantaged , terminally ill , physician assisted suicide , medicine , assisted suicide , suicide prevention , gerontology , family medicine , medical emergency , poison control , psychiatry , nursing , palliative care , law , political science
In the first three years that physician‐assisted suicide (PAS) has been legal in Oregon, about two persons per month have taken medication to end their life. Most physicians are unwilling to proscribe the lethal medication. Because many terminally ill people are confined to their bed or home, the difficulty of finding a willing physician may have resulted in many abandoning the idea of using PAS. People living a long way from a large urban centre may be severely disadvantaged in their ability to obtain medication to end their lives.