Editing Assisted suicide (section)

===Oregon===
In the Oregon program 2454 deaths had occurred from 2001 to 2022.

During 2022, 431 people (384 in 2021) received prescriptions for lethal doses of medications under the provisions of the Oregon DWDA, and at January 20, 2023, OHA had received reports of 278 of these people (255 in 2021) dying through ingesting those medications. 85% were aged 65 years or older, and 96% were white. The most common underlying illnesses were cancer (64%), heart disease (12%) and neurological disease (10%). 92% died at home. (See the arguments section above for reasons for using the program, and the methods section above for further information.)<ref name="auto3"/>

In February 2016, Oregon released a report on its 2015 numbers. In 2015, there were 218 people in the state who were approved and received the lethal drugs to end their own life. Of that 218, 125 have been confirmed to have ultimately decided to ingest drugs, resulting in their death. 50 did not ingest medication and died from other means, while the ingestion status of the remaining 43 is unknown. According to the state of Oregon Public Health Division's survey, the majority of the participants, 78%, were 65 years of age or older and predominantly white, 93.1%. 72% of the terminally ill patients who opted for ending their own lives had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. In the state of Oregon's 2015 survey, they asked the terminally ill who were participating in medical aid in dying, what their biggest end-of-life concerns were: 96.2% of those people mentioned the loss of the ability to participate in activities that once made them enjoy life, 92.4% mentioned the loss of autonomy, or the independence of their own thoughts or actions, and 75.4% stated loss of their dignity.<ref>{{cite web |title=OREGON DEATH WITH DIGNITY ACT: 2015 DATA SUMMARY |url=https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year18.pdf |website=State of Oregon |publisher=Oregon Public Health Division |access-date=29 April 2019 |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513040353/https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year18.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

A 2015 [[Journal of Palliative Medicine]] report on patterns of hospice use noted that Oregon was in both the highest quartile of hospice use and the lowest quartile of potentially concerning patterns of hospice use. A similar trend was found in Vermont, where aid-in-dying (AiD) was authorized in 2013.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wang SY, Aldridge MD, Gross CP, Canavan M, Cherlin E, Johnson-Hurzeler R, Bradley E | title = Geographic Variation of Hospice Use Patterns at the End of Life | journal = Journal of Palliative Medicine | volume = 18 | issue = 9 | pages = 771–780 | date = September 2015 | pmid = 26172615 | pmc = 4696438 | doi = 10.1089/jpm.2014.0425 }}</ref>

A 2002 study of hospice nurses and social workers in Oregon reported that symptoms of pain, depression, anxiety, extreme air hunger and fear of the process of dying were more pronounced among hospice patients who did not request a lethal prescription for [[barbiturate]]s, the drug used for physician-assisted death.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ganzini L, Harvath TA, Jackson A, Goy ER, Miller LL, Delorit MA | title = Experiences of Oregon nurses and social workers with hospice patients who requested assistance with suicide | journal = The New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 347 | issue = 8 | pages = 582–588 | date = August 2002 | pmid = 12192019 | doi = 10.1056/NEJMsa020562 | doi-access = free }}</ref>