{"id":13764,"date":"2022-04-20T11:07:16","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T16:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/?p=13764"},"modified":"2022-04-20T11:07:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T16:07:16","slug":"oregon-extends-medically-assisted-death-to-non-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/2022\/04\/20\/oregon-extends-medically-assisted-death-to-non-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Extends Medically Assisted Death to Non-Residents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rebecca Chieffallo, Staff Writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oregon\u2019s Death with Dignity Act was first approved by a slight majority of 51% of Oregon voters in 1994, making the state the first in the nation to allow physicians to administer lethal medication doses to terminally ill patients.[1]<\/sup><\/a> The Act was reaffirmed by 60% of the Oregon population in 1997. [2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, the act has several requirements that needed to be met before a terminally ill patient was approved for the physician-assisted death.[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0First, patients were required to be Oregon residents who received a terminal illness diagnosis from their attending physician, meaning that the illness is incurable and irreversible with a lifespan of approximately six months.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, a patients\u2019 choice to receive the lethal injection must be voluntary and not due to a psychological disorder or depression.[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The patient\u2019s state of mind needs to be evaluated through the attending physician, and a second evaluation is required to confirm the patient\u2019s medical records and attending physician\u2019s conclusions.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These attending physicians may dispense or prescribe the lethal medication but may not administer it, and must keep detailed medical records of the events preceding the medically-assisted death.[7]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The Act does not permit euthanasia, which means that the patients themselves must administer the medication.[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion and Choices is an advocacy group supporting the expansion of the Act to non-residents.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2021, the group filed suit against several executives within the state on behalf of Dr. Nicholas Gideonse, who operated a practice in Oregon and taught as an assistant professor of family medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.[10]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Compassion and Choices alleged the resident requirement of the Act violated the Constitution\u2019s prohibition of states favoring their residents over non-residents.[11]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Diaz, an attorney for Compassion and Choices said that the residency requirement was not fair to all patients in the county.[12]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u201c[The requirement is] discriminatory and profoundly unfair to dying patients at the most critical time of their life,\u201d Diaz said.[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case settlement was filed on March 28, and the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Medical Board, and Multnomah County District Attorney\u2019s Office agreed to not enforce the residency requirement.[14]<\/sup><\/a> However legislative striking of the requirement is still needed.[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gideonse was pleased by the abolishment of the residential requirement after he was previously prohibited from treating patients across the border near Portland in Washington state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel very, very good about this resolution,\u201d Gideonse said, \u201c[N]o other aspect of my medical care is restricted by state lines\u2026I feel safe to talk to my patients in Washington.\u201d [16]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been some critiques of the settlement by groups such as the National Right to Life, an anti-abortion group.[17]<\/a><\/sup> However, other states have also passed similar laws in recent years such as California, Vermont, and New Jersey passed similar laws in recent years.[18]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lifting of the Act\u2019s residential requirement now allows Gideonse and other Oregon physicians the option to hear requests from out-of-state patients that would not have been considered in the past.[19]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.oregonencyclopedia.org\/articles\/death_with_dignity_law\/#.YlRQNdPMLQ0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.westlaw.com\/Document\/Idaacbfaa876211da8ccab4c14e983401\/View\/FullText.html?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&VR=3.0&RS=cblt1.0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/best-states\/articles\/2022-03-29\/out-of-state-residents-can-now-seek-medically-assisted-suicide-in-oregon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/29\/us\/oregon-suicide-residency.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/best-states\/articles\/2022-03-29\/out-of-state-residents-can-now-seek-medically-assisted-suicide-in-oregon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/29\/us\/oregon-suicide-residency.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16]<\/sup><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/best-states\/articles\/2022-03-29\/out-of-state-residents-can-now-seek-medically-assisted-suicide-in-oregon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/03\/30\/1089647368\/oregon-physician-assisted-death-state-residents<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/29\/us\/oregon-suicide-residency.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Chieffallo, Staff Writer Oregon\u2019s Death with Dignity Act was first approved by a slight majority of 51% of Oregon voters in 1994, making the state the first in the nation to allow physicians to administer lethal medication doses to terminally ill patients.[1] The Act was reaffirmed by 60% of [\u2026] <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3454,3245,3317],"class_list":["post-13764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-juris-blog","tag-medically-assisted-death","tag-oregon","tag-rebecca-chieffallo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13767,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13764\/revisions\/13767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}