Baptist Press - Washington now leads in assisted suicides - News with a Christian Perspective

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Washington has become the No. 1 state for physician-assisted suicide.
Physician-assisted suicide represents doctors' failure "to exercise their professional responsibility never to harm patients." –- C. Ben Mitchell
At least 83 people in Washington died in 2012 after taking lethal doses of drugs prescribed by doctors, the State Department of Health reported June 20. That total pushed Washington beyond Oregon, which has had legalized assisted suicide 12 years longer and has always held the annual record for such deaths. Earlier this year, Oregon reported 77 assisted suicide deaths in 2012 for its highest total ever.
The increase in assisted suicides annually from 36 to 83 since 2009 prompted Southern Baptist bioethicist C. Ben Mitchell to say Washington's "numbers are chilling."
Washington, which legalized assisted suicide in 2009, has reported 240 such deaths in less than four years. Oregon has reported 673 deaths by assisted suicide since its Death With Dignity Act went into effect in 1997, according to the state's Public Health Division.
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