Oregon Department of Public Health

January 24, 2013 – The number of prescriptions for lethal medications – allowable for terminally ill patients under the Death With Dignity Act – and the number of deaths attributable to lethal overdose from the medications was up only slightly in 2012 versus 2011, but have climbed steadily since the law was implemented in 1998, according to a report released by the Oregon Public Health Division last week.