Oregon Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Law Applies to Diabetics

The article below leaves out that "diabetes mellitus" (diabetes) is listed in Oregon's annual reports as an "underlying illness" sufficient for death under Oregon's assisted suicide/euthanasia law.

Click here to view a declaration by Oregon doctor, William Toffler, explaining why this is true. Click here to view the report by Fabian Stahle, quoted below.

Diabetics Eligible For Assisted Suicide &  in Oregon, State Official Say 

By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - January 11, 2018

Updated California Materials Against ABX2-15

To view new materials against ABX2-15, seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide, click here.

If the document is "too big," click here and here for the memo and its appendix as separate documents.

Overview 

ABX2-15, the “End of Life Option Act,” seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide in California is a recipe for elder abuse.  The bill is not limited to people who are dying.  Indeed, “eligible” persons can have years, even decades, to live.

In Oregon, which has a similar law, that state’s Medicaid program uses coverage incentives to steer people to suicide.  If ABX2-15 is enacted, California’s Medicaid program, as well as private insurers, will be able to engage in this same conduct.  Do you want this to happen to you or your family?

The bill has a myriad of other problems.  Please vote “No” on ABX2-15.

Memo to the California State Assembly: "No" on SB 128

The original pdf version of this memo has an executive summary and index, which can be viewed here. The attachments can be viewed here.

I. INTRODUCTION.

I am an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.[1] Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon. Both laws are similar to the proposed California bill, SB 128.[2] 

Enactment of SB 128 will create new paths of elder abuse. “Eligible” patients will include people with years, even decades, to live.  

I urge you to reject this measure. Do not make Washington’s and Oregon’s mistake.

"I hope that Connecticut does not repeat Oregon's mistake."

http://www.journalinquirer.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/march-letters/article_ccb4e384-a2bb-11e3-b9c8-001a4bcf887a.html (second letter)

I have been a professor of family medicine and a practicing physician in Oregon for more than 30 years. I write to provide some insight on the issue of assisted suicide, which is legal in Oregon, and which has been proposed for legalization in Connecticut (raised bill No. 5326).

Our law applies to “terminal” patients who are predicted to have less than six months to live.  In practice, this idea of “terminal” has recently become stretched to include people with chronic conditions, such as “chronic lower respiratory disease” and “diabetes”.  Persons with these conditions are considered terminal if they are dependent on their medications, such as insulin, to live.  They are unlikely die in less than six months unless they don’t receive their medications.  Such persons, with treatment, could otherwise have years or even decades to live.

This illustrates a great problem with our law — it encourages people with years to live, to throw away their lives.

I am also concerned that by starting to label people with chronic conditions “terminal,” there will be an excuse to deny such persons appropriate medical treatment to allow them to continue to live healthy and productive lives.

These factors are something for your legislators to consider. Do you want this to happen to you or your family? Furthermore, in my practice I have had many patients ask about assisted-suicide. In each case, I have offered care and treatment but declined to provide assisted suicide. In one case, the man’s response was “Thank you.”

To read a commentary on the most recent Oregon government assisted-suicide report, which lists chronic conditions as the “underlying illness” justifying assisted suicide, please go here:  http://www.noassistedsuicideconnecticut.org/2014/02/oregons-new-assisted-suicide-report.html

To read about some of my cases in Oregon, please go here:  http://www.choiceillusion.org/p/what-people-mean_25.html

I hope that Connecticut does not repeat Oregon’s mistake.

William L. Toffler
Portland, Ore.

Dr. Toffler Writes the New Hampshire Judiciary Committee: "Vote NO on HB 1325"

Dear Members of the Committee:

I am a doctor in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal.  As a professor of Family Medicine and practicing physician in Oregon for over 30 years, I write to urge you to not make Oregon's mistake and vote No on HB 1325.

I understand that there was a question during your recent hearing regarding the appropriateness of suicide prevention with a terminal patient.  Terminal patients, like other patients, will sometimes express suicidal desires and ideation.  Terminal patients, like other patients do not necessarily mean it and may even want you to say "no."  They may also be clinically depressed, i.e., colloquially not in their "right minds."  With this situation, suicide prevention is not only appropriate, but necessary to provide good medical care and to avoid discrimination based on the patient's quality of life as perceived by the doctor.

In my practice, I have had well over twenty patients ask me about participating in their suicides or giving them information about assisted suicide.  In every case I have explored the issues behind their request, and then assured them that I will provide their medical care to the best of my ability. At the same time, I also strive to reflect and convey their inherent worth and my inability to collude with their request to help end their life.  I remember one case in particular, the man's response was "Thank you." 

To read more about that case and some of my other cases in Oregon, please read my statement to the BBC, since re-titled as "What do People Mean When They Say they Want to Die?"  http://www.choiceillusion.org/p/what-people-mean_25.html

Please vote No on HB 1325,

Thank you,

William L. Toffler MD
Professor of Family Medicine
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Portland, OR 97239
503-494-5322
503-494-8573 (patient care)
503-494-4496 (fax)
toffler@ohsu.edu

Massachusetts: "Oregon doctor disputes state's assisted suicide"

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x553404669/Letter-Oregon-doctor-disputes-states-assisted-suicide 
The Gloucester Daily Times Wed Oct 19, 2011, 11:25 PM EDT

To the editor:

Cynthia Fisk's letter (The Times, Wednesday, Oct. 12) supports assisted suicide to avoid disabling and unyielding pain.

In Oregon, where I practice medicine and where assisted-suicide has been legal since 1997, there has never been a documented case of assisted-suicide used because of actual untreatable pain.

In statewide television ads in 1994, a woman named Patty Rosen claimed to have killed her daughter with an oral overdose of barbiturates because of intractable cancer pain. This claim was later challenged and shown to be false.

Giving patients a lethal dose to kill themselves is easier than evaluating them, caring for them and/or treating them. In short, legalization encourages lazy doctoring.

A few years ago, a patient contacted me concerned that an oncologist might be one of the "death doctors." She questioned his motives,­ particularly when she obtained a more favorable opinion from another oncologist. Such fears were never an issue before assisted-suicide was legalized.

Don't make Oregon's mistake.

William L. Toffler MD
Professor of Family Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University

Vermont: Don't Make Oregon's Mistake

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/ci_19077890

Posted: 10/09/2011 09:32:49 PM EDT, Sunday October 9, 2011 

 

I am a doctor in Oregon where physician-assisted suicide is legal. Dr. Richard Guerrero's letter justifies his support of assisted suicide with a discussion of physical pain (Sept. 30).

 
In Oregon, there has never been a documented case of assisted suicide used because there was actual untreatable pain.
 
One of the first times I discussed assisted suicide with a patient was with a man in a wheelchair with a progressive form of multiple sclerosis who asked me for assistance with his suicide. I told him that I could readily understand his fear and his frustration and even his belief that assisted suicide might be a good path for him.
 
At the same time, I told him that should he become sicker or weaker, I would work to give him the best care and support available. I told him that no matter how debilitated he might become, that, at least to me, his life was, and would always be, inherently valuable. As such, I would not recommend, nor could I participate in his suicide. He simply said: "Thank you."
 
How we respond to someone requesting suicide can either reflect the person's inherent worth or can cause the person even deeper desperation. Patients can even feel pressured to proceed simply due to how we respond. For this reason alone, the deaths may not be voluntary. Don't make Oregon's mistake.
 
WILLIAM L. TOFFLER, MD