Oregon Bill HB 2217 would extend assisted suicide to allow euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Oregon bill HB 2217 which expands assisted suicide to include euthanasia by redefining “self-administer” passed in the House by a vote of 37 to 21. HB 2217 states:

“Self-administer” means a qualified patient’s physical act of ingesting or delivering by another method medication to end his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.

The difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide is how it is done. Euthanasia is done by one person causing the death of another person, usually by lethal injection. Assisted suicide is when one person is directly involved with causing the death of another person, usually by prescribing lethal drugs that patients take themselves. 

Chris Lehman with KLCC in Oregon explains that HB 2217 enables lethal drugs to be taken by any method, including lethal injection:

Oregon’s “Death With Dignity Act” allows doctors to prescribe lethal medications to people who are thought to have less than six months to live. Patients have to take the medicine themselves. Since the law took effect in the late 90’s, that’s generally been interpreted to mean taking the deadly dose through oral ingestion.

The measure under consideration would clarify that patients could take the medication into their body using any method, including an IV tube or injection.

On January 1, In her article: End-of-Life option laws should avoid needless red tape, Kim Callinan, the CEO of Compassion & Choices, (formerly known as the Hemlock society) argued that assisted suicide laws require fewer regulations. Callinan writes:

If lawmakers want to improve medical aid in dying laws, then let’s address the real problem: There are too many regulatory roadblocks already! I am not suggesting changing the eligibility requirements, as our opposition will suggest. I am merely suggesting that we drop some of the regulations that put unnecessary roadblocks in place.

The assisted suicide lobby considers the homicide laws as a roadblock to assisted suicide. If HB 2217 becomes law, it will create an exception for homicide under the assisted suicide act.