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In 1994, Oregon voters approved the Death with Dignity Act, which allows a physician to prescribe a lethal dosage of a drug if it is requested by a terminally ill patient with decision-making capacity. However, the law requires that if the physician believes the patient’s judgment is impaired by a mental disorder (e.g., depression), the patient must be referred to a mental health professional; no drug can be prescribed until a determination is made that the patient does not have impaired judgment. In this study, investigators assessed the prevalence of depression among 58 terminally ill Oregonians (mean age, 66; 31 were women) requesting physician aid in dying.
The most common diseases were cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Using sta…