A new survey published April 23 in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that few doctors have ever assisted a patient in suicide, but that more than a third would do so if the practice was legalized. “This actually doesn't happen very often,” says survey co-author Dr. Diane Meier of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "This is the most important discovery. It is a rare event" [Associated Press, 04/23/98]. The survey was based on a questionnaire sent in 1996 to 3,102 doctors under the age of 65; 1,902 doctors responded anonymously. Overall, 11% of respondents said they had ever received a request for a lethal injection (euthanasia), and 18% said they had been asked for a prescription for an overdose of life-ending pills (assisted suicide). 5% said they had ever had such an injection, while 3% wrote a lethal prescription; because some doctors had done both, the cumulative total of doctors who had helped deliberately end a patient's life was 6%. While most of those who engaged in such behavior did so only once or twice, one doctor said he wrote 25 prescriptions and gave 150 lethal injections. Although responses were confidential and untraceable, the authors note that the survey may underreport these practices. On the other hand, the surveys were deliberately sent to physicians in ten specialties identified in previous surveys as "those in which physicians are likely to receive requests from patients for assistance in hastening death" [New England J. of Medicine , 4/23/98, p. 1193]. Therefore, the survey may overestimate the percentage of all U.S. physicians who have assisted in suicide or performed euthanasia. The survey found that these practices are more common on the West Coast, where one state, Oregon, voted to legalize assisted suicide in 1994 [p. 4]. Previous surveys, usually limited to a particular state or region, have produced higher estimates for the frequency of assisted suicide or euthanasia [e.g., "1 in 5 doctors say they have assisted a patient's death, Survey Finds,” Boston Globe, 2/28/92]. The new survey differed from these because its questions were tested beforehand with focus groups of doctors, to minimize confusion between these practices and medical actions that might indirectly or unintentionally hasten death. Noting that 36% of doctors in the survey said they could assist suicides if Since the practice was legal, the Hemlock Society said the findings support its position in favor of legalization.