Oregon Public Broadcasting

More than 400 patients have died using Oregon's “Death with Dignity” law. But not one has been African-American.

Those findings are in a new study in the Journal of Clinical Ethics. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Nearly 80 percent of terminally ill patients never seriously consider assisted suicide, regardless of their race. But why is it that no black patients have taken advantage of Oregon's law?

Patricia King is a law professor at Georgetown University who has written about African-Americans and assisted suicide.

She says historically black Americans have had good reason to distrust the healthcare system. And there could be another factor says Professor King.

Patricia King: “I would just speculate that African-Americans may have religious views about death and dying and taking one's own life that might be relevant here.”

Finally, there's the fact only two percent of Oregon's population is black.

Of the 401 people who have died under Oregon's “Death with Dignity” law – 391 were white, seven were Asian, two Hispanic and one Native American.