Cancer Patients are Opting to be Euthanized Because They Can’t Afford Chemo

The study, published in JAMA Oncology, is one of the first detailed analyses of the Death with Dignity Act, which passed in the state of Oregon 18 years ago. It shows a 12 percent yearly increase in lethal prescriptions from 1998 to 2013, with an unexplained jump of nearly 30 percent in 2015. Although the lead author of the study, Dr. Charles Blanke, an Oregon Health & Science University oncologist, who has himself issued about 65 lethal prescriptions, said the data “indicates the law is working as intended to give dying people a choice of how they want to die”, there were some worrying findings. -- More...