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A Few Quick Facts:
1. Most patients are not in unbearable pain. Despite what the advocates of physician-assisted suicide continually present, information from states with physician-assisted suicide clearly show most individuals select it due to avoid being a burden on others or losing some autonomy - not because they are suffering unbearable pain.
2. Patients have to change doctors. Very few doctors in states with physician-assisted suicide involve themselves with the process. In Oregon, only between 2 - 3 % of the doctors participate in physician-assisted suicide. Patients have to doctor shop to find one that will provide them the deadly medication.
3. The medication used is not FDA approved or tested. Patients must self-administer an oral mixture of various drugs, called a "cocktail", which has been developed, and changed through the years, by doctors who want to offer physician-assisted suicide. Unfortunately, the patients are the test subjects for the "cocktail", sometimes resulting in horrific results. Doctors providing the medication are free to alter the "cocktail" if they desire. There are no legal requirements that doctors need to inform the patient about the lack of FDA approval or the experimental nature of the drug. Any doctor providing the medication is free to alter the "cocktail" in an effort to improve
4. Doctors and medical personnel are not usually present when the patient ends their life. The vast majority of patients self-administer the deadly cocktail at home and not in a medical setting. Since the drug is self-administered, there is technically no reason for a doctor or nurse to be present. Once the doctor prescribes the medication to the patient, with the exception of some paperwork, their role is done.
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