California 2021 assisted suicide report. 486 "reported" deaths.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The 2021 California assisted suicide report indicates that there were 486 reported assisted suicide deaths and 772 lethal cocktail prescriptions written. The report also states that 130 people who were approved for assisted suicide died from their underlying illness or other causes and 194 people received a lethal drug cocktail but their ingestion status is unknown.

When the ingestion status is unknown, the California Department of Public Health knows that the person received a lethal drug cocktail but they do not know whether or not the person died by assisted suicide.

The 2020 California assisted suicide report stated that there were 435 reported assisted suicide deaths with 164 people whose ingestion status was unknown. The 2021 California assisted suicide report amended the 2020 data stating that there were 495 reported assisted suicide deaths up from 435 in 2020. Last year I estimated that the actual number of assisted suicide deaths may be 500. I was close. In 2020 at least 60 of the 164 people whose ingestion status was unknown, died by assisted suicide.

How many of the 194 people whose ingestion status is unknown in 2021 died by assisted suicide? I estimate that next years report will state that there were 550 reported assisted suicide deaths.

Under-reporting and abuse of the law is covered-up by the reporting system. The California assisted suicide data comes from the reports submitted by the assisted suicide doctors. Since this is a self-reporting system, it is impossible to know when a doctor does not send in a report or abuses the law.

Order the pamphlet - Shedding light on assisted suicide in America. 

The data indicates that of the 486 reported assisted suicide deaths, 416 (85.6%) were white, 34 (7%) were Asian, 25 (5.1%) were Hispanic and 4 (.8%) were Black. 

The 2020 California population census indicates that: 39% are Hispanic, 35% are White, 15% are Asian and 5% are Black.

Clearly, assisted suicide is an issue of white privilege.

In 2021 California legislators expanded the assisted suicide law by passing Bill SB 380 which:

• Reduced the mandatory 15-day waiting period between the two oral requests to 48 hours. 
• Forced doctors who oppose assisted suicide to refer the person who requests assisted suicide.  
• Eliminated the original law’s sunset clause, which eliminated the requirement to review the law.

In response to passing of Bill SB 380, a group of California Doctors who oppose assisted suicide have launched a court case to protect their conscience rights (Link to article). The conscience rights case has yet to be heard.

Recently a California federal judge rejected a case designed to permit euthanasia within California's assisted suicide act (Link to article). Dr Lonny Shavelson, who solely focuses on assisted suicide, and Sandra Morris, who lives with ALS, argued that the state's assisted suicide law discriminated against people who had difficulty self-ingesting the lethal assisted suicide drugs and to remedy the situation the state needed to permit euthanasia (lethal injection) in those cases. (Link to the decision)

Justice Chhabria rejected Shavelson's challenge to the law stating that permitting euthanasia was not an extension to the current law but rather it would fundamentally alter the law (Link to article).

California Assisted Suicide deaths increase by 20%. 405 reported assisted suicide deaths in 2019.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

From June 9, 2016 until December 31, 2019 there have been 1283 reported assisted suicide deaths in California.

The 2019 California annual assisted suicide report is similar to other US jurisdictions were the report implies that the assisted suicide deaths were voluntary and self administered, but the information in the report does not address that subject.

The California assisted suicide data comes from the reports submitted by the doctors who carry-out the assisted suicide death. It is not possible, based on the reporting system, to uncover under-reporting or abuse of assisted suicide.

Order the pamphlet - Shedding light on assisted suicide in America.

According to the 2019 California assisted suicide report:

• In 2019, 618 prescriptions for lethal drugs were written, up from 452 in 2018.
• In 2019 there were 405 reported assisted suicide deaths up from 337 in 2019.
• Out of 405 reported assisted suicide deaths, 27 received the lethal drugs in previous years.
• Out of 618 prescriptions for lethal drugs 90 deaths were from the underlying illness or other causes. 
• Out of 618 prescriptions for lethal drugs, the ingestion status is unknown in 150 cases. 82 of the 150 are known to have died, but the ingestion status remains unknown.

There may be more assisted suicide deaths. Some of the 150 people who's ingestion status is unknown, may have died by assisted suicide. It is likely that some of the 82 people who have died but the ingestion status is unknown, died by assisted suicide. The California assisted suicide law uses a self-reporting system making unreported assisted suicide deaths possible.

Last year a nurse plead not guilty to murder, in a California court, based on allegedly injecting her friend with assisted suicide drugs. The case shows how lethal drugs may have been used to kill someone outside of the law.

In December 2017, a former California politician, Steven Clute, was charged with assisting the suicide of his wife, Pamela, in August 2016.

From June 9, 2016, when assisted suicide was legalized, and December 31, 2019 there have been 1283 reported assisted suicide deaths. The number of assisted suicide deaths do not equal the number of deaths in the reports due to the timing of death reports received and other factors.

Link to the article: California 2018 assisted suicide report - 337 reported assisted suicide deaths (Link).

Shedding Light on Assisted Suicide in America

The new Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) pamphlet - Shedding Light on Assisted Suicide in America (Shedding Light) counters the myths that assisted suicide laws are safe. Shedding Light explains how the assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Washington state work and why they provide no effective oversight.

Order Shedding Light for $35 for 100 copies, $90 for 300 copies or $150 for 600 copies (plus shipping and taxes) by contacting the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) at: info@epcc.ca or by calling 1-877-439-3348.

Featured stories in the pamphlet:

Dr Charles Bentz, a doctor in Oregon, describes how his depressed patient died by assisted suicide. From personal experience, Bentz proves that the depressed people are dying by assisted suicide in Oregon. 

Kathryn Judson, an Oregon resident, wrote that she was afraid to leave her husband alone with doctors and nurses after a doctor gave her husband a "sales pitch" for assisted suicide. Judson's story undermines the myth that assisted suicide requests are based on a person's "free choice." 

Dr Ken Stevens with Jeanette Hall

Jeanette Hall, an Oregon resident, in 2000 was diagnosed as terminally ill and she wanted to die by assisted suicide. Hall is thankful to Dr. Kenneth Stevens because he encouraged her not to give up. Jeanette is happy to be alive. Assisted suicide steers people with years to live to suicide.

Attractively designed and easy to read, Shedding Light explains how the assisted suicide laws work, how these laws are abused and why assisted suicide is wrong.

The fears that lead someone to consider assisted suicide are real and legitimate. We believe that a caring society offers real answers to these concerns. A caring society assures that each individual is properly cared for, not abandoned in their time of need.
We support a society that cares for its citizens, not kills them.

Order Shedding Light for $35 for 100 copies, $90 for 300 copies or $150 for 600 copies (plus shipping and taxes) by contacting the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) at: info@epcc.ca or by calling 1-877-439-3348.