Legalized physician-assisted suicide in Oregon, 1998-2000.

To the Editor: In 1997, Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide.1 In a follow-up to our previous reports,2,3 we assessed whether the numbers and characteristics of patients who died after the ingestion of legally prescribed lethal medications in 2000 differed from those of patients who did so in 1998 and 1999.4 Patients who chose physician-assisted suicide were identified through required physician reporting of legally prescribed lethal medications. Data were obtained from these reports, interviews with physicians, and death certificates. We also compared patients who chose physician-assisted suicide in 2000 with a cohort assembled from 1999 death certificates of state residents who . . .