Redefining Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Correcting the Self-Defeating Nature of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act
Saturday, October 14, 2023
7:30 AM – 8:45 AM ET
Location: Essex C (Fourth Floor)
Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act has enabled patients with a terminal diagnosis to access physician-assisted suicide (PAS) since the 1990s. As stipulated in the Act, a physician prescribes a death-inducing drug that the patient must then self-administer. No one may aid the patient in administering the drug, as doing so would constitute an act of euthanasia. This stipulation poses problems for physically disabled persons that lack the ability to self-administer or swallow medication, due to illness or injury. Ultimately, this exacerbates the disparities between the disabled and the able-bodied. In theory, PAS is a legally protected practice that is accessible to all citizens of Oregon who qualify for it; in practice, the current stipulations of PAS exclude physically disabled persons from accessing it. I argue that the definitions of PAS and euthanasia should be changed to eliminate this disparity and to be more patient-centered: an act constitutes PAS when the patient wants to die, and a physician assists them in achieving that goal, regardless of whether they merely prescribe a drug or if they administer the death-inducing drug, while an act constitutes euthanasia when a physician hastens a patient’s death by administering a death-inducing drug when the patient does not want to die or when their preferences cannot be known.