February 22, 2008
Few issues in bioethics have received as much sustained attention as the question of whether the terminally ill should have the right to hasten their deaths through prescribed medication, a practice known as assisted suicide or assistance in dying. This question has been debated in Congress, state legislatures, the Supreme Court, in books and scholarly articles, and in the popular press. The Center for Inquiry believes the time is appropriate to re-examine this issue, in part because Oregon has now had in effect for a decade a statute that permits physician assistance in dying under certain circumstances. Some who oppose legalization of the practice have predicted that legalization would result in a parade of horribles: thousands being rushed to a premature death, many patients being coerced into requesting assisted dying, a decline in the quality of health care for the terminally ill, and the beginning of a slippery slope to legalizing assisted suicide on demand. Our position paper carefully examines Oregon’s experience and concludes that none of the dire predictions has proven to be accurate. Moreover, if proper safeguards are in place, there is no reason to believe that legalization will result in unacceptable consequences.