Gehrig’s disease victims consider suicide, survey says
BOSTON — More than half of
victims of Lou Gehrig’s disease in
a two-state survey said they
would consider assisted suicide.
Lou Gehrig’s disease is a pro
gressively fatal illness that even
tually leaves victims unable to
speak, swallow or move.
Dr. Linda Ganzini and others
from the Oregon Health Sciences
University in Portland surveyed
100 victims in Oregon and Wash
ington state. The survey was fin
ished before Oregon’s law making
physician-assisted suicide legal
took effect last fall.
In the survey, 56 of the patients
agreed with the statement: “Un
der some circumstances, I would
consider taking a prescription for
a medicine whose sole purpose
was to end my life.”
Forty-four of these people said
they would request a lethal pre
scription if that were legal.
The doctors also surveyed 91
relatives who took care of these
patients. Three-quarters of them
said they shared the patients’
views on assisted suicide.
The survey was published in
Thursday’s New England Journal
of Medicine.
An editorial by Dr. Lewis P.
Rowland of Columbia-Presbyter
ian Medical Center in New York
City said many doctors never dis
cuss the ultimate prognosis with
their patients.
“Physicians rarely raise the is
sue of assisted suicide,” he wrote,
"and at our ALS center, few pa
tients ever ask about it.”
One victim of the disease who
did seek it was Merian Frederick,
72, of Ann Arbor, Mich. In an es
say in the journal, her daughter
told of Mrs. Frederick’s decision
to end her life with the help of Dr.
Jack Kevorkian.
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