Non-physicians would be allowed to administer assisted suicide in new Oregon bill

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A new bill in Oregon is looking at expanding its current assisted suicide law to allow for non-physicians, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners, to prescribe “medications” in order to aid someone to commit suicide.  

According to Live Action the new bill, known as the Senate Bill 1003, seeks to change the terms “attending physician” to “prescribing provider,” and “consulting physician” to “consulting provider”, and further defines “provider” as either a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner. This will make Oregan’s law the first in the US to allow non-physicians to administer assisted suicide to people. 

Alex Schadenberg from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has said that assisted suicide advocates find “very few doctors” are prepared to be involved with assisted suicide and that “[b]y adding physician assistants and nurse practitioners they will increase the number of providers who are willing to be involved with killing.”

Lois Anderson of Oregon Right to Life called the bill “dangerous” and said that “it must be stopped.” 

“If passed, it will usher in death on demand available to anyone whether they live in Oregon or not. Instead of providing more opportunities for providers to prescribe toxic cocktails of life-ending drugs making the dehumanizing practice more readily accessible, the Oregon legislature should focus on ensuring that all people facing end-of-life decisions have access to truly compassionate, high-quality palliative care,” she said.  

This comes as Ireland and the UK are seeing a push for assisted suicide, with the UK having had its assisted suicide bill pass it’s second reading in parliament late last year. Whilst assisted suicide is not yet legal in the UK, the proposed bill is currently undergoing amendments, with over 200 being recommended by experts and medical organisations, in a bid to make the law safer for patients. However, before MPs voted last year, UK doctors sent an open letter to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, saying that it would be “impossible” to draft an assisted suicide law that ensures people are protected from coercion. They particularly drew upon issues from Canada, who have been relaxing its assisted suicide law since it was legalised in 2016, stating that this has “demonstrated that safeguards can be eroded in a matter of just five years.”

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented, saying: “This is a very worrying and dangerous move from Oregon. Instead of expanding assisted suicide services, lawmakers should consider why so many doctors are not prepared to administer assisted suicide – because a doctor’s job is to provide lifesaving care and appropriate end of life care to their patients, a large contradiction with what assisted suicide requires.”

“People like to say assisted suicide is about compassion and dignity, but it is really about telling people that old age, a sickness or a disability suddenly makes your life worthless. This is an attitude we must strive to eliminate from our society.”