At least 10 people have formally requested aid in dying since Oregon's physician-assisted suicide statute was passed last October, The Oregonian reports. And at least one has fulfilled the legal criteria to be granted a lethal prescription. 

But the numbers of those actually dying in this way will not be known for some time. The Oregon Health Division has refused to divulge how many completed assisted suicides are reported to it until numbers are sufficient to ensure patients' anonymity. 

Although precise data is difficult to come by, it appears that several of those seeking to use the new law have in fact died during the compulsory 15-day waiting period. Salem oncologist, Dr. Peter Rasmussen, claims to have received formal requests for lethal prescriptions from four patients, but "So far, every patient has died before the 15-day waiting period". The formal process of requesting assisted-suicide "is quite limiting and quite cumbersome", he claimed, adding that "I personally think it needs to be that way. It's not perfect, but I would feel frightened if people could make snap decisions."

Since Oct. 27, when an injunction against the law was lifted, at least two people have been denied access assisted-suicide, because they did not satisfy the statutory criteria. One 56-year-old Portland woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said her doctor   denied her request for a lethal prescription because: "He feared he would be helping me murder myself if I was not as sick    as I thought." 

According to Coos Bay oncologist Dr. Richard Ellerby, many physicians may feel reluctant to grant requests for assistance. Although he has not yet received any formal requests under the assisted-suicide statute, he says he feels under threat from "all these various and sundry organizations" opposing the new law. "The last thing you want," Ellerby said, "is for someone to be bombing the front door of your clinic." 

A brother and sister discovered their elderly parents dead in their favourite armchairs in the livingroom of their  cottage home in Glassford, Lanarkshire, having ended their lives in a suicide pact in February of this year.

George and Selina Davidson are believed to have taken an overdose of pills, because they did not wish to become "a burden to the family." George, 73, a retired farmer, had been in a wheelchair for seven years after a stroke left him paralysed down one side and unable to speak properly. And Selina, 68, was no longer able to care for him herself, due to rheumatoid arthritis and hip problems.

Son John who, with his sister, visited their parents every day. said: "We did as much as we could and visited them both every day. But obviously the stress of their illnesses must have got on top of them. The whole family is devastated. The only comfort we have is that they died together - which was fitting after 46 years of marriage."

The tragedy led to calls for better care and support for elderly people - and for euthanasia and assisted suicide to be made legal. Scottish Health Minister Sam Galbraith said: "I'm very sorry to learn of this extremely tragic case - this is not something we should be hearing about in Scotland.

"This Government believes no one should feel excluded from society. If people need help they should get it and nobody should be made to feel a burden."