Last week the Oregon Senate passed Senate Bill 494. Touted as a “simple update” to Oregon’s current advance directive, this bill is designed to allow for the starving and dehydrating to death of patients with dementia or mental illness.

Senator Betsy Johnson was the only Democrat to vote ‘no’ and Senator Jeff Kruse was the only Republican to vote ‘yes.’

Senate Bill 494 is little more than the state colluding with the healthcare industry to save money on the backs of mentally ill and dementia patients. This bill would remove current safeguards in Oregon’s advance directive statute that protect conscious patients’ access to ordinary food and water when they no longer have the ability to make decisions about their own care.

As Oregon Right to Life explains, he bill, pushed by big insurance companies and which has been amended more than once, is touted as simply creating a process of updating Oregon’s advance directive. However, even with its amendments, SB 494 will allow for the starving and dehydrating to death of patients with dementia or mental illness.

“It’s disheartening that the proponents of Senate Bill 494 have sold it as a basic ‘update’ to Oregon law,” said Gayle Atteberry, Oregon Right to Life executive director. “The reality is that it will remove current safeguards in Oregon’s advance directive statute that protect conscious patients’ access to ordinary food and water when they no longer have the ability to make decisions about their own care.”

How SB 494 works:

Under current law, if it’s not clear what a mentally incompetent person desires or wants, the person’s health care representative does not have the authority to end the incompetent person’s life unless the person is in a specific end-of-life situation.

Oregon’s current advance directive allows a person to specify types of care they will want as well as who will be their health care representative if they become mentally incompetent. The current form gives ample room for a person to write his/her complete instructions for end-of-life care including if the patient wants tube feeding or not.

Oregon’s current advance directive is a part of statute. As such, it is not just a form—the law also limits the authority of a health care representative to make decisions for a patient to only what the patient designates on the form.

SB 494 removes the advance directive document from Oregon statute. The result is that there could be situations where an incompetent person’s life may be ended according to the wishes of their health care representative, even if it’s against the unwritten or ambiguously written desires of the incompetent person.

If SB 494 becomes law, instead of a person having to opt-out of life-sustaining treatment on an advance directive, Oregonians will likely need to specifically opt-in to ensure that their health care representative does not end their life.

This bill specifically affects people who become mentally incapable of making health care decisions, such as someone with dementia who can still eat, drink and make other everyday choices. That is why it is so important that a health care representative only have the authority to make a life-ending decision if they are explicitly given that authority. The current advance directive preserves Oregonians’ ability to receive food and hydration even if they lose mental competency.

“Oregon Right to Life will continue to fight SB 494 as it heads to the State House for consideration,” said Atteberry.

“It’s appalling what the Senate Rules Committee just voted to do,” said Gayle Atteberry, Oregon Right to Life executive director. “This bill, written in a deceiving manner, has as its goal to save money at the expense of starving and dehydrating dementia and mentally ill patients to death.”

“Oregon law currently has strong safeguards to protect patients who are no longer able to make decisions for themselves,” said Atteberry. “Nursing homes and other organizations dedicated to protecting vulnerable patients work hard to make sure patients receive the food and water they need. Senate Bill 494, pushed hard by the insurance lobby, would take patient care a step backwards and decimate patient rights.”

“Oregon Right to Life is committed to fighting this terrible legislation every step of the way,” said Atteberry. “We have already seen the outrage of countless Oregonians that the Legislature would consider putting them in danger. We expect the grassroots response to only increase.”

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