- A new report from the Oregon Health Authority shows that 81.8 percent of behavioral health professionals seeking licenses or renewals between 2022–2024 completed suicide prevention training – the highest rate since tracking began in 2018.
- While training is mandatory for behavioral health professionals under House Bill 2315, it remains optional for most medical providers like doctors and nurses, prompting OHA to call for expanded requirements.
- Suicide prevention training in Oregon is a three to six-hour course offered at little to no cost, covering warning signs, intervention strategies, cultural competency, recovery approaches and safety planning.
- Critics argue Oregon’s legalization and expansion of physician-assisted suicide through the Death With Dignity Act undermines its broader suicide prevention efforts, especially as assisted suicide cases rise.
- Assisted suicides now account for about one percent of all deaths in Oregon annually, with opponents citing international data suggesting that legalizing assisted suicide correlates with increased rates of non-assisted suicide as well.
A new state report reveals that more behavioral health professionals than ever before are receiving suicide prevention training in Oregon as part of their licensure process.
According to a report released by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) in early August, 81.8 percent of behavioral health professionals who applied for licenses or renewals between 2022 and 2024 reported completing a suicide prevention course – the highest rate recorded since tracking began in 2018.
“This is a big step. However, OHA expects the 2026 report to show an even bigger gap between medical and behavioral health care providers,” the report read. “Since 2017, OHA has urged lawmakers to require suicide prevention training for medical providers. Many states already require it by law.” (Related: KILLING THE HELPLESS: Canada set to legalize euthanasia for mentally ill patients.)
Brighteon.AI‘s Enoch defines suicide prevention training in Oregon as a program designed to educate individuals and communities about the warning signs of suicide, equipping them with the skills to identify at-risk individuals and intervene effectively. It typically lasts three to six hours and is offered at little to no cost statewide. In recent years, the curriculum has expanded to include cultural competency, recovery-focused approaches, safety planning and real-world case studies.
However, the report, submitted to the Oregon Legislature, argued that although suicide prevention training is mandatory for many behavioral health professionals under House Bill 2315, passed in 2021, it remains optional for most medical providers, such as doctors and nurses.
Oregon’s assisted suicide law undermines state’s suicide prevention efforts
Despite the report, critics argue that the state’s support for physician-assisted suicide undercuts its own prevention efforts and may be sending conflicting messages about the value of life.
In 1997, Oregon became the first state to implement a law allowing physician-assisted suicide through its “Death With Dignity Act” (DWDA), which permits terminally ill patients expected to live fewer than six months to request a prescription for lethal drugs. Since then, the use of the law has steadily grown, with a 30 percent increase in prescriptions in 2023 and an additional eight percent rise in 2024.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cited by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, places Oregon 14th in the nation for suicides per capita, with a 2023 rate of approximately 19.4 suicides per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 14.1 per 100,000. The figures do not include cases of physician-assisted suicide under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.
Meanwhile, state data revealed that assisted suicides now account for roughly one percent of all deaths in Oregon annually.
“If Oregon is serious about reducing suicide, eliminating physician-assisted suicide would be a good place to start,” Dr. Sharon Quick, MD, M.A., president of Physicians for Compassionate Care and an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, wrote in an email to Oregon Right to Life. “The numbers of people accessing assisted suicide has increased in every jurisdiction that has legalized it. In addition, there is evidence that rates of non-assisted suicide also increase.”
A 2022 analysis by Professor David Albert Jones of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, England, supports this claim. His review of international data found that both assisted and non-assisted suicide rates increased in jurisdictions where such practices were legal, sometimes significantly. “Promoting euthanasia or assisted suicide (EAS) seems to contradict the principle that ‘every suicide is a tragedy,'” Jones wrote in the summary of the analysis.
Read similar news at Depopulation.news.
Watch Clayton Morris of “Redacted News” revealing a horrific truth about Canada’s medical assistance in dying program in the clip below.
This video is from the Neroke-5 channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Canadian lawmaker introduces petition against expanding EUTHANASIA for babies with “severe health issues.”
Canada expands euthanasia “mercy” killing to ensnare society’s most vulnerable, including children.
Quebec College of Physicians supports EUTHANASIA as “appropriate treatment” for severely ill infants.
Sources include:
LifeSiteNews.com
OregonCapitalChronicle.com
Brighteon.AI
Brighteon.com
Read full article here