63 Suicides in Nine Months of Washington States New Physician Suicide Law
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March 5, 2010 (Seattle Times)
Sixty-three suicide prescriptions were dispensed during the first nine months of Washington state's "death with dignity" act and at least 36 people used that lethal dose of medicine to end their lives, state officials said Thursday.
The prescriptions for lethal doses of medication were written by 53 different doctors and dispensed by 29 different pharmacists, the Department of Health said in its first annual report on the law that took effect in March 2009.
The statistics show that use of the program has been similar to the first year of Oregon's assisted suicide law, said Health Department spokesman Donn Moyer. Oregon adopted the nation's first "death with dignity" law in 1997.
Montana became the third state to allow assisted suicide at the end of 2009 after the Montana Supreme Court ruled that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide.
