Man survives doctor-assisted suicide attempt
Friday, March 4, 2005 Posted: 4:13 PM EST (2113 GMT)


PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- A terminally ill cancer patient who tried to end his life with drugs prescribed under Oregon's assisted-suicide law awoke three days later, alert and talkative, his wife said.

David Prueitt, who had lung cancer, took what was believed to be a fatal dose of a barbiturate prescribed by his doctor in January. He fell into a coma within minutes, but woke up three days later, said his wife Lynda Romig Prueitt.

Prueitt's wife told The Oregonian newspaper that he asked, "Why am I not dead?"

Prueitt, 42, lived for two more weeks before dying of natural causes at his Estacada home, about 35 miles southeast of Portland.

The state Department of Human Services will turn the case over to the Board of Medical Examiners or state Board of Pharmacy to determine if the procedure or drugs were faulty, said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, assistant state epidemiologist.

Complications with doctor-assisted suicides are rare. In 2001, a patient took 37 hours to die after ingesting a lethal dose, and in 2003, a patient took 48 hours to die. Neither regained consciousness.

Since the law took effect in 1997, more than 170 people in Oregon have used it to end their lives. The law is meant for only extremely sick people -- those with incurable diseases who two doctors agree have six months or less to live and are of sound mind.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that states have the right to decide whether to allow doctor-assisted suicides, but it announced last month it will review the law again following an appeal by the Bush administration.

I agree. Assisted suicide should be a personal choice.

what a moron. killing yourself = totally unethical and unnatural.

It's nobody's business but the person who wants to do this. They aren't bothering anyone and this shouldn't have been a news story at all.

Dr. Phillips:
It's nobody's business but the person who wants to do this. They aren't bothering anyone and this shouldn't have been a news story at all.


And if I were you, I would be ashamed to have your moral beliefs.I didn't say I supported it I said it's none of anybody's business if someone wants to do assisted suicide. how does this affect anybody else, but the person doing it and their family. this personal and the person doing it should not be judged for something that is personal.

It's nobody's business but the person who wants to do this. They aren't bothering anyone and this shouldn't have been a news story at all.
I agree. It's like passing away in your sleep - they're not shooting themselves with guns or jumping off a cliff or something. Besides, with terminal cancer, they're going to die sooner or later...Might as well go peacefully and painlessly. :)

If you want to die, it's your choice and no one else's, period.

I didn't say I supported it I said it's none of anybody's business if someone wants to do assisted suicide. how does this affect anybody else, but the person doing it and their family. this personal and the person doing it should not be judged for something that is personal.

exactly. it's your life, not anyone else's. why should someone else force you to live when you're suffering and don't want that? your life, your choice.

I see the majority of posters on here support immorality.It's not as simple as that. We are talking about people who are in a state where their quality of life has dissipated and are in a state of poor health where they will NOT get better. They will most likely remain in a vegatative state or comatose indefinitely with no chance of recovery. If they do recover, it remains possible that they may remain brain damaged and unable to function. It is frightening to think of a comatose person who has been injured and incapable of moving and communicating to the outside world but remains in an open-eyed "death stare."

It is a very difficult issue but it isn't resolved by people saying "you're immoral for thinking this." Many of us have families who have to deal with making that decision. One can't criticize until they've been there. Me and my family were confronted with the decision last fall.

I see the majority of posters on here support immorality.
you truly enjoy hitting people with your book don't you?

people have many different beliefs and opinions, it isn't necessary for you to pass judgement on everyone that expresses views that differ from your own.

it is pretty hard to put yourself in the shoes of someone facing a long and painful death...

if I were you, I would be ashamed to have your moral beliefs.

And you know, if I were you, I'd be ashamed to have such a stick-up-my-ass attitude. If you want to live your life based on a godforsaken book, that's fine- we are not stopping you- but you have absolutely no right to throw it in other people's faces and criticize OUR beliefs just because we don't agree with you.

I agree. It's like passing away in your sleep - they're not shooting themselves with guns or jumping off a cliff or something. Besides, with terminal cancer, they're going to die sooner or later...Might as well go peacefully and painlessly. :)

There are treatments which can ease the suffering of terminal patients and prolong their life. Anybody who chooses to end their life early is a moron. And, frankly, I'm glad that this "cancer" of thinking hasn't spread beyond Oregon.

And you know, if I were you, I'd be ashamed to have such a stick-up-my-ass attitude. If you want to live your life based on a godforsaken book, that's fine- we are not stopping you- but you have absolutely no right to throw it in other people's faces and criticize OUR beliefs just because we don't agree with you.

he must not be ashamed of it because he has yet to realize how he is and make an effort to change.

is that your cat in your avatar? she's adorable :D

I see the majority of posters on here support immorality.

you're far from moral yourself, buddy.

It's not fair to call people who choose to do this morons. some of them are beyond treatment and if they could be cured they wouldn't do this. The point is it is it is none of anybody business and it doesn't make sense to get angry about peoples personal business.

It's nobody's business but the person who wants to do this.Indeed and I cant stand hearing the police getting all bent out of shape when they get a suicidal person call..... THEY DONT HAVE A RIGHT TO STOP SOMEONE FROM DOING THIS!!

It just pi$$es me off!!

I was a big fan of Jack Kevorkian, a doctor who advocated assisted suicide for terminally I’ll patients. He went even so far as to make up his own machine and did several procedures with terminally ill patients and even dared the legal system to imprison him, which they did in the end. There is a good movie with Al Pacino and John Goodman called “You Don’t Know Jack” which showed what he did.