Questionable Study on Assisted Suicide/Suicide Correlation

This article was published by National Review online on December 12, 2024.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

Previous studies have shown an association between states legalizing assisted suicide and increases in suicide rates for other suicides. Now, pro-euthanasia activists are touting a new study which claims no impact. But the study actually finds a significant impact in the raw numbers. From the study published in the American Journal of Bioethics:

927,929 Suicide deaths were represented in the study. Ten states and the District of Columbia had legalized MAID within the study period. In an univariable analysis, states that legalized MAID differed significantly from non-MAID states with respect to mean monthly suicide rate (non-MAID States: 1.46; MAID states: 1.78; p < 0.0001), as well as several covariates.

Oh. But wait, adjustments were made:

We constructed geographically-weighted regression models controlling for annualized state-level sociodemographic factors, such as racial distribution (percent Caucasian), average age, income levels, unemployment rates, rates of spiritual engagement, firearm ownership rates, gender ratios, and education levels.

And voila:

Our study failed to find evidence that suicide rates were positively associated with MAID legalization or MAID implementation, when controlling for geographic variation and multiple sociodemographic factors associated with suicide risk. This finding contrasts with other studies that have reported a positive association between suicide rates and MAID, and so calls into question one argument against MAID legalization.

Please note that thousands of suicides are not included in these statistics because state laws legalizing assisted suicide redefine the act — like saying a dung beetle is a butterfly — as not suicide because the decedent was ill. But suicide is a what, not a why. That approach falsifies vital statistics for political purposes.

In any event, with the study’s pre-adjustment data showing “states that legalized MAID differed significantly from non-MAID states with respect to mean monthly suicide rate,” this study’s weighted conclusion of no impact seems subjective and could itself be called into question.