60 Oregonians die by assisted suicide in 2008

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sixty Oregonians ended their lives last year by taking a lethal drug dose prescribed under the Death with Dignity Act, state officials reported March 3.

That is the highest annual total in the 11-year history of the law, 11 more than in 2007. Deaths from a drug prescribed under the Oregon law now account for two of every 1,000 deaths in Oregon.

A total of 401 terminally ill Oregonians have died from the drug since 1997, when Oregon made it legal for a doctor to prescribe a lethal drug dose to a terminally ill patient who makes the request orally and in writing.

The statistics were released when Washington state joined Oregon March 5 as the only states where such a prescription — known variously as doctor-assisted suicide or physician aid-in-dying — is legal.