Pro-life group in Oregon celebrates as bill aimed at allowing dementia patients to be starved fails

A pro-life group in Oregon is celebrating a victory after a bill that would have allowed dementia and mentally ill patients to be starved to death failed to advance in the state's House of Representatives.

Church Militant reported that Senate Bill 494 was sent to Oregon's House Judiciary Committee on Friday. But the legislation was effectively killed for this legislative session as the committee was closed on June 2.

The measure, which passed the Senate on June 8 by a vote of 17–13, would have removed safeguards that protect patients with mental illness or dementia from being starved or dehydrated against their will.

Oregon Right to Life (ORTL) Executive Director Gayle Atteberry said that legislation was the most "devious bill" she had ever seen, noting that its text can be difficult for laypeople to understand.

"Had this bill become law, it would have been used to end the lives of innocent Oregonians, who are not in the active dying stage but are afflicted with mental illness. Thousands of Oregonians wrote to their legislators, expressing horror about this bill that exemplifies just how extreme Oregon's politicians have become," she stated in a press release on Monday.

Under current law, health care representatives are not allowed to end the life of a mentally incompetent person if it is not clear what the patient desires or wants. Health care representatives can only end the life of a mentally incompetent person if the patient is in a specific end-of-life situation.

SB 494 reportedly removes the advance directive document, which allows a person to specify types of care they will want and choose their health care representative if they become mentally incompetent, from Oregon's statute.

The removal of the directive could result in situations where the life of the incompetent person may be ended according to the wishes of their health care representative, even if it is against the desires of the patient, according to a report from Life News.

"Oregon law currently has strong safeguards to protect patients who are no longer able to make decisions for themselves," Atteberry said.

"Senate Bill 494, pushed hard by the insurance lobby, would take patient care a step backwards and decimate patient rights," she added.

The bill reportedly received one Republican vote when it was approved by the Senate on June 8. It will remain in the already-closed House Judiciary Committee until the end of this year's legislative session on July 10, at which point the measure will be considered "officially" dead.