In the United States, five states have legalised physician-assisted death (PAD), but most information and research comes from the state of Oregon, in which the practice has been legal since 1997. This law allows a physician to prescribe a lethal dosage of medicine to terminally ill, mentally competent residents, for the purposes of self-administration. Each year about 3 in 1000 deaths are from PAD and the patients most often have cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Concerns that legalisation would undermine the development of palliative care and be disproportionately utilised by patients unable to access good end of life care have been unfounded.

中文翻译：

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俄勒冈州合法化的医师协助的死亡

在美国，有五个州已将医师辅助死亡（PAD）合法化，但是大多数信息和研究都来自俄勒冈州，该州自1997年以来一直是合法的。该法律允许医师开具致命剂量的为自我管理目的，将药物用于绝症，精神上有能力的居民。每年，每1000名死亡中就有3名死于PAD，患者最常患有癌症或肌萎缩性侧索硬化症。担心合法化会破坏姑息治疗的发展，并导致无法获得良好生命周期护理的患者过度使用这种担忧，这一点没有根据。