An Oregon bill would expand the state’s current law to permit physician assistants and nurse practitioners to prescribe “medication” to help a person to commit suicide.
Senate Bill 1003 changes the term “attending physician” to “prescribing provider,” and “consulting physician” to “consulting provider.” The term “provider” would be defined as a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner under Oregon law. This bill represents the first time that non-physicians would be authorized to assist the killing of a person in the United States.
Nurses participate in the euthanasia and assisted suicide of persons in Canada, where the country’s “Medical Assistance In Dying” (MAiD) rates are already high and continuing to increase. According to 2023 statistics, these practitioner-assisted killings account for 4.7%, or 1 in 20 deaths, in Canada.
In the United States, assisted suicide organizations continually seek its expansion, yet the U.S. numbers aren’t yet even close to Canada’s; assisted suicide rates in California in 2023 were a mild 0.3% of the population comparatively.
Oregon is not the only state with an expansion bill this year. Vermont also has a bill to expand its assisted suicide law. According to Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, the “weak link” for assisted suicide activists is that “very few doctors” are willing to be involved with assisted suicide, and “[b]y adding physician assistants and nurse practitioners they will increase the number of providers who are willing to be involved with killing.