Oregon PAD: Shorter Wait Time for Certain Patients

The Washington Post reported an updated development for Physician-Aided Dying in Oregon. Oregon removes assisted suicide wait for certain patients explains that the governor signed a bill that allows individuals who have 15 or less days to live to skip the 15 day cooling off period.

Those seeking life-ending medications had to make a verbal request for physician-assisted suicide, wait 15 days and then make a written request. They then had to wait an additional 48 hours before obtaining the prescription.

Under the new amendment, doctors can make exceptions to the waiting periods if the patient is likely to die before completing them.

The article discusses the position of those who opposed the amendment and notes that the number of folks availing themselves of PAD remains low.

The number of people who have taken advantage of Oregon’s law has been relatively small. Since it enacted the nation’s first physician-assisted suicide law in 1997, nearly 1,500 people died from taking life-ending medications prescribed to them by a physician. In 2018, about 46 per every 10,000 deaths could be attributed to the state’s death with dignity law, according to state data.