Transparency fears as Washington stops publishing assisted suicide data

The Washington State Department of Health has announced it will no longer publish its annual assisted suicide statistical report, sparking fears that vital data on the practice will be hidden from public scrutiny.

Assisted suicide became legal in Washington in 2008 under the Death with Dignity Act. The law required the Department of Health to collect information and release a yearly report on assisted deaths.

This process continued uninterrupted from 2009 to 2023. However, on 4 July, a brief message appeared on the department’s website stating: “A 2024 annual statistical report will not be released. The most recent available data year is 2023,” citing funding cuts as the reason.

The decision has been criticised by campaigners and experts who warn that ending data collection removes transparency and undermines safeguards around assisted suicide.

Wesley J. Smith, author and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, commented in National Review:

“When activists tell you they want strict controls on assisted suicide to induce you to go along, they don’t mean it. Their goal is to effectuate wide-open euthanasia through incrementalism — a tactic that begins almost as soon as the laws go into effect.”

Between March 2009 and December 2023, over half (51.7%) of those choosing assisted suicide listed being a “burden on family, friends or caregivers” among their end-of-life concerns.

This figure has more than doubled from 23% in 2009.

In 2023, 10% cited “financial implications of treatment,” while 72.4% reported “loss of dignity.”

That year, 427 people died under Washington’s assisted suicide law—a 17.6% increase from 2022 and over ten times the number recorded in 2009.

Statistics such as these show that while lawmakers calling for assisted suicide claim it will be used for serious medical suffering, in practice many fear being a burden or face financial pressures. UK lawmakers should carefully consider these realities before moving towards similar legislation.