By Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC

As promised, I checked into the testimony given in Scotland that claimed C & C created Oregon’s annual statistics. The state has responded and denied it is true. From the e-mail I received:

The Act requires the Oregon Department of Human Services (currently named the Oregon Health Authority) to collect information about the patients and physicians who participate in the Act, and publish an annual statistical report. Compassion and Choices does not have any role in data collecting or producing annual reports. Therefore, the statement you quoted in your e-mail is not correct.

That’s good to know. Most assisted suicides in Oregon are facilitated by C & C, to the point they publish their own statistics. If they had also, essentially, taken over the death bureaucracy, I would not have been surprised.