Concerns have been raised that vital data on the dangers of assisted suicide will be hidden following a decision by the Washington State Department of Health to discontinue its annual statistical report.
Assisted suicide was legalised in Washington in November 2008 under the Death with Dignity Act, which included a requirement for the Washington State Department of Health to produce an annual report: “The Death with Dignity Act requires the Washington State Department of Health to collect information and make an annual statistical report available to the public”.
However, on 4 July, a brief message appeared on the Washington State Department of Health’s ‘Healths statistics’ page for the Death with Dignity Act stating “A 2024 annual statistical report will not be released. The most recent available data year is 2023”. The message also explains that this is “[d]ue to funding cuts”.
The Department of Health in Washington has produced annual reports on assisted suicide in the state for every year between 2009 and 2023. However, the announcement means such reports will no longer be produced.
Critics are viewing the removal of the statistical report as a concerning step towards greater access to assisted suicide in Washington. Wesley J. Smith, an author and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, said “When activists tell you they want strict controls on assisted suicide to induce you to go along, they don’t mean it. Their goal is to effectuate wide-open euthanasia through incrementalism — a tactic that begins almost as soon as the laws go into effect”.
Dr Ramona Coelho, a family medicine practitioner based in London, Ontario, said “An accountable assisted suicide regime requires oversight”.
“Assisted suicide is not a medical decision; it is a legal act, with specific eligibility criteria and procedural safeguards that must be met”.
“A lack of reporting creates serious risks of abuse, negligence, and erosion of public trust”.
Reports reveal disturbing statistics on “end-of-life concerns”
The reports, which have been produced since the law was enacted in 2009, reveal that between March 2009, when the law came into effect, and 31 December 2023, an average of 51.7% of participants in the death with dignity program who subsequently died listed “Burden on family, friends/caregivers” among their end-of-life concerns. Data from Washington also reveals an increase in the proportion of people who participated in the Death with Dignity program and subsequently died, and who listed being a “burden” among their end-of-life concerns from 23% in 2009 to 51% in 2023.
In 2023, 10% of participants in the death with dignity programme who subsequently died listed “Financial Implications of treatment” among their end-of-life concerns. An average of 72.4% of participants in the death with dignity programme who subsequently died listed “Loss of dignity” of treatment among their end-of-life concerns.
In 2023, 427 people died from assisted suicide in Washington, a 17.63% increase on the previous year when 363 died from assisted suicide, and a 1086.11% increase from 2009.
“Opaqueness will be the order of the day”
The issue of being a burden was highlighted during the Committee Stage of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, when Naz Shah MP raised the issue that in Oregon, Canada, Western Australia and Washington State, between 35% to 59% of people cite being a burden as a reason for their assisted suicide/euthanasia.Wesley J. Smith said “From now on, opaqueness will be the order of the day”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The state of Washington’s decision to discontinue its annual report on assisted suicide is highly suspicious since it is to the benefit of supporters of this law that how it operates in practice remains hidden from public scrutiny. The 14 years of data they have produced make for deeply alarming reading since it reveals the high percentage of people who are making reference to non-medical reasons as part of their reason for seeking assisted suicide. The high proportion of people citing being a ‘burden’ among their end-of-life concerns suggests many of these deaths are basically deaths of despair”.
“Furthermore, the future non-publishing of data highlights the unreliability of safeguards in assisted suicide legislation. This should set alarm bells ringing in the UK as the assisted suicide Bill heads to the House of Lords”.
“It is vital for the full facts to be made available so that the dangers of assisted suicide can be seen. Any hope of uncovering coercion or other wrongdoing is dramatically diminished when no data is made available for public scrutiny. Politicians this side of the Atlantic should take note of how easily legislation can change once it is passed”.
“We will be fighting this Bill at every stage in the House of Lords, where we are confident it can be overturned given its continued loss of support”.
