Report: Assisted Suicide Prescriptions in Oregon Increased in 2025

More people than ever received prescriptions for lethal drugs in Oregon in 2025, according to a new report. 

Last year, doctors wrote 637 prescriptions under the state’s “Death with Dignity Act,” a progressive euphemism for state-sanctioned physician-assisted suicide, The Oregonian reported, citing recently released state data. That number is the highest on record since the law went into effect in 1997 and represents a 5-percent increase from 2024, according to the report. 

Oregon was the first state to pass an assisted suicide law in the United States, but is now one of a dozen states, plus Washington, DC, that allow physicians to assist in the suicides of terminally ill patients. In Oregon, patients must be at least 18, be able to make their own medical decision, and have a prognosis of six months or less to live. 

Since 1997, 5,520 people have obtained prescriptions for suicide drugs in Oregon and 3,691 have followed through with using the drugs to end their lives, according to the report.

Data from the Oregon Health Authority also show more out-of-state patients obtaining prescriptions for lethal drugs last year since the state dropped its residency requirement in 2023. In 2025, 37 people who live outside of Oregon received suicide drugs, compared with 24 in 2024, according to the report.

Data reveals that not everyone who obtains a prescription ends up using the drugs.

Of the people who obtained prescriptions last year, the state recorded 358 deaths from ingesting the drugs. Another 100 never took the drugs but later died of their illnesses. For 179 patients, the state has not been able to confirm whether they used the drugs, according to the report.

The actual number of known deaths tied to the law decreased slightly in 2025 from 2024, to 400 compared with 421. However, health officials said the figure is likely to surpass 2024’s once more death records are reported to the state.

“What we’ve been seeing over the last several years is a steady overall increase in prescriptions and deaths among Death with Dignity Act participants,” Deputy State Health Officer and epidemiologist Dr. Tom Jeanne said in a statement.

Approximately 88 percent of people who use the law are 65 or older, and cancer accounts for roughly 61 percent of cases, per the report. Neurological diseases and heart disease are most common after cancer.

About 92 percent of patients who obtain the drugs were enrolled in hospice, and nearly 80 percent died at home, according to the report. 

“Not everyone who qualifies dies within the six-month prognosis required to participate. Last year, 24 people lived longer before taking the medications,” according to the report. “Doctors prescribe the medication but are rarely present when it’s taken. In most cases, patients take it at home, often with family, caregivers or volunteers nearby.”