I received an e-mail recently from Jerry Daniel of Vancouver, Wash., asking for more details about the death of Clay Freeman, NM’s 2008 Person of the Year, who died Feb. 1. Since Freeman, a high quad/vent user who depended on multiple PCAs, lived in Oregon, the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, Daniel wondered if Oregon’s law may have been a factor in his death. Daniel’s home state, Washington, just became the second state to allow PAS, effective March 5. He is also a vent user, and he is concerned that PAS devalues and makes more vulnerable the lives of those with severe disabilities, including vent-using quads.

As far as I know, Clay did not choose to die. He was a fighter, and PAS requires a terminal diagnosis, which rules out quadriplegia. But over the past 11 years, 401 people have died using the law, and some interesting facts have come to light.

In Oregon, of the 401 people who  have ingested a lethal cocktail, 53 percent were males and 47 percent were females, most of whom were between 55-84 years of age. About 44 percent were highly educated, having received a baccalaureate degree or higher. Most came from metropolitan areas, and the most prevalent disease cited, by far, was some form of cancer, lung cancer being the most common. ALS was a distant second at 7.5 percent. Third was chronic lower respiratory disease, at 4.7 percent.

These statistics, compiled by Oregon’s Department of Human Services (oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/ar-index.shtml), give some credence to Daniel’s concern for vent-using quads, since breathing difficulties figure prominently in lung cancer, ALS, and respiratory disease. However, as I stated earlier, both Oregon and Washington’s PAS laws require that a doctor, and a second consulting physician, declare that an applicant has six months or less to live.

One Oregon statistic strikes me as especially remarkable: 391 out of the 401 who chose to hasten their deaths were white.

Every bit as remarkable is the corollary, the very low percentage of PAS users who were minorities. But only one minority in Oregon has, so far, completely turned its back on the law. No African-American has ever died by PAS.

Why? We can only guess. But it is interesting to note as well that only two Hispanics and one Native American have used the law. Seven Asians have died from PAS.

It’s tempting to brainstorm possible explanations for this seemingly ironic imbalance. Here’s my take: African-Americans have historically been distrustful of government authority and programs, having been victimized for centuries by discriminatory laws and unjust practices. Also, there is something to be said for the value of having to live with cultural inequities, hardship and pain. Not all people believe they are entitled to a life free from suffering.

Of course, this is pure conjecture, but I tend to think that most people with severe disabilities have learned some of the same lessons that other minorities have learned by being on the bottom of the heap. And the most important one may be that no matter how oppressive our circumstances may seem, every moment and every breath — even those that come with great difficulty — are priceless.