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Thoughts on Oregon's Death With Dignity Act

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Thoughts on Oregon's Death With Dignity Act

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According to the Public Health Division at the Center for Health Statistics (2023), Oregon’s Death with Dignity act, passed in 1997, “allows terminally ill patients who meet specific qualifications to end their lives through voluntary self-administration of a lethal dose of medications prescribed by a physician for that purpose.” After taking some time to research this act and people’s opinions on it, I think that those who are experiencing terminal illness cannot be dictated on what to choose, as everyone has the right to choose what they want to do according to their own values, beliefs, and limits. Also, I feel that cultural or institutional biases might affect whether people decide to undergo assisted suicide, because through my research I found that in 2022, out of 278 patients who underwent assisted suicide, 267 of them identified as white (Public Health Division, Center for Health Statistics, 2023).

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Why Consider the Life Course Perspective?

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Why Consider the Life Course Perspective?

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The Life Course Perspective allows for people not only to examine how a person has developed based on their appearance, but in the context of their life story. You not only get to look at the person now, but you can glimpse into their past and peek into their future. You can walk in their shoes as you examine the locations they have lived, played, worked, and grieved in. You can travel across time as you learn about the economy, pop culture and technological advancements around them. The Life Course Perspective allows you not only to observe the person, but to read the person and to comprehend them.

To me, I do not think any aspects of the Life Course Perspective are more influential than another. Geographic location, historical period, past events, and the timing of a transition all have so many major impacts on how people grow. To me, human agency is the most influential part of the Life Course Perspective. For example, middle-class women who saw their families struggle during the Great Depression were later surveyed to have grateful and peaceful feelings towards old age, and many of their sons were able to explore opportunistic life choices despite their childhood being stolen by poverty and war (Elder, 1991). The ability to overcome what life throws at you and demonstrate resilience is not only most impactful, but to me, it is most beautiful. Elder (1991) states it best as he mentions, “people who make the best out of life are frequently those who have managed to surmount the disadvantages of life and times.” Remember, you may not have come up with some of the elements in your story, but at the end of the day, it is you writing it.

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Are there possible institutional biases on who gets to undergo assisted suicide?

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Are there possible institutional biases on who gets to undergo assisted suicide?

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Lastly, I feel that there may be some institutional inequalities that affect the demographic of those who chose to do assisted suicide. It is commonly known that black women have experienced higher infant mortality rates in the U.S. due to being ignored or undermined when they are in pain (Smith, et al., 2022). Could the same be true for black people and other people of color experiencing pain during a terminal illness and who wish to end their suffering? Do those in lower socioeconomic levels have access to the counseling and psychiatric analysis required for the prescription of these life-ending drugs? These are just some thoughts I had as I looked at the racial demographics, and the only data I found related to SES detailed insurance coverage and education. None of the patients in the Public Health Division’s (2023) data summary for 2022 had no insurance coverage, and only 13 out of the 278 had less than a high school diploma/GED.