Healthy woman died by assisted suicide in Oregon after faking doctor and diagnosis

The anti-assisted suicide group Aging With Dignity has released a short film exposing the tragic death of 31-year-old Eileen Mihich, who was able to undergo assisted suicide in Oregon by faking a diagnosis, a doctor, and a prescription. Her diagnosis, her residency, and the medical license of the doctor who allegedly prescribed the lethal drugs were not verified.

Key Takeaways:

• In the short film, Mihich's aunt spoke to Aging With Dignity about her niece's assisted suicide.

• Mihich was raised by two parents who both struggled with mental illness and who abused her throughout her childhood, including sexual abuse and neglect.

• She struggled with mental illness and had considered traveling to be killed in the Netherlands.

• Mihich was able to fake paperwork by impersonating a California doctor, provide it to a pharmacist in Washington who supplied her with the legal drugs, and then take the drugs home with her to Oregon, where she took them and died in a hotel room.

• Despite not having any physical illness, not being a resident of Washington, and not undergoing a waiting period, Mihich was able to be killed, even though she repeatedly admitted that she didn't actually want to die.

• Oregon, Washington, and California all have laws allowing assisted suicide.

The Details:

In the film, "The Tragedy of Eileen Mihich," Mihich's aunt (whose name was not revealed) spoke about Mihich's tragic life and upbringing. "I'm Eileen's aunt, the aunt that she was closest to; she showed up on my doorstep many times over the years," she began. "Eileen was born to two mentally ill people who are both abusive in different ways. Her father was sexually abusive, and her mother was mentally and somewhat physically abusive and negligent, so she had a very, very sad origin. She was born in the Antelope Valley in California and spent a little time there. Then she moved to Bakersfield. She had a hard time there."

The family lived in a bad neighborhood where Mihich was bullied, although her aunt said she remained a smart, empathetic, caring person. Yet she still struggled; clips from Mihich's social media pages showed her repeatedly making cries for help and looking to heal from her past traumas and abuses. Ultimately, she became suicidal.

"She was going to school for a while, doing well," her aunt said. "Tried different jobs, and, and then I don't know what the sequence of events were that kind of catapulted her into this abyss — you know, this feeling that she couldn't go on."

Mihich even reportedly struggled with basic things like hygiene. "She would show up on my doorstep, and she had not bathed in I don't know how long," she said. "I would have to force her to bathe, and I still have a bar of soap of hers in my bathroom, actually. And I would just I would get exasperated with her. She just didn't know any better. She really didn't. she wasn't raised with any, like, how do you properly take care of yourself, like, you don't steal. You clean up after yourself. She wasn't raised with any of those, so she was ultimately just like a child, like her mother."

How a Lonely 31 Year Old Woman Received Lethal Medication | Eileen's Story

Mihich's aunt said she tried to get her niece help, but it was incredibly difficult. "They created this system here a few years ago just for mental health emergencies," she said. "And I called that, and they really didn't do anything. I feel it's a shame that some people can't be committed at least on a temporary basis. I pleaded with her to take medication, but she just didn't believe — she was just anti-psychiatry. It was more like, if I could just get this all this healing... all this psychic healing."

At this point, Mihich reportedly became suicidal. She bought a gun, but was unable to go through with shooting herself, so instead, she decided to try "voluntary stopping eating and drinking" (VSED). But when she couldn't keep it up for more than a few days, she considered traveling to the Netherlands to undergo assisted suicide, knowing the country allows it solely for mental illness. When that plan didn't work out, Mihich began looking somewhere closer to home to die.

She successfully gained access to lethal drugs by impersonating a doctor and faking a diagnosis and a prescription. She then died alone in a hotel room.

Failure to verify information

Washington's Death with Dignity Act requires that a person who receives assisted suicide must be 18 years of age or older, must be diagnosed with an incurable and irreversible disease that will cause death within six months, and must be a Washington resident.

A press release from Aging with Dignity states that Mihich forged documents from California claiming she had Stage 4 cervical cancer, and that no one from Washington made any effort to confirm if the diagnosis was accurate. Mihich was seemingly aided in her quest to die by a so-called "death doula" service. The release says that Mihich...

... was able to successfully impersonate a California physician, fill out Washington’s written request and compliance forms, forge a prescription, and submit it to a Washington pharmacist who dispensed the lethal medication. Nobody verified the impersonated doctor’s medical licensure for Washington, Eileen’s fake medical diagnosis of State 4 cervical cancer, her mental competence, or even her required Washington state residency. Eileen returned to Oregon with the lethal medication and ended her life on or about March 8th in a room at the Hotel Deluxe in Portland.

Mihich's aunt believes the pharmacist who gave her the drugs "was extremely negligent and lax." She said, "I don't think it was like a deliberate thing, but he should be held accountable."

"Eileen was able to fraudulently obtain some lethal medications through the Death with Dignity Act, which was designed for people who are within six months of dying from a terminal illness," her aunt said. "How she got access to those drugs is a little bit mystifying to us still, because the law is supposed to be very strict. She just slid through the cracks, you know? They did not verify that she was terminally ill, that she was a resident of Washington state. They did not have two doctors' documents you can sign off on this. They did not have a waiting period. It just should not have happened if it was as strict as it was intended to be... as it was written to be."

She added:

I reached out to Death With Dignity, and they did not respond in a way that I thought was human. They didn't want to take any accountability. They didn't want to be sobered by this... like, they should have been shocked. They should have responded in such a way that this was unacceptable, and they needed to try to do something to tighten this so it doesn't happen in the future. And there needs to be an investigation as to any other actors who were involved with this that might have played a role. If there were people who are involved in the right death movement who believe it should be liberalized for mental illness, a beautiful, bright young woman just is gone. Her life's just gone, and because of the best intentions of this policy, that started out with the best intentions. As they say, the road to hell is paved with the best intentions, but this is what happened. This needs to be looked at. It needs to be scrutinized, needs to be brought out into the open, so somebody else doesn't have to lose a precious person.

The Background:

Oregon, Washington, and California all have laws allowing assisted suicide for certain individuals. Each has requirements that must be met; however, Mihich's aunt believes that such safeguards were ignored.

Oregon law

Oregon enacted its Death with Dignity Act in October 1997, allowing "terminally ill individuals to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose." The law defines terminal disease as "an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months."

Under the law, the patient must:

• Make two oral requests to the attending physician at least 15 days apart

• Provide a written request to the attending physician, signed in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom is unrelated to the patient

In addition to other requirements, the attending physician and the consulting physician must:

• Confirm the patient's diagnosis and status as terminal

• Determine if the patient is capable of making the decision to die and communicating on his own behalf

The attending physician must also inform the patient of alternatives such as comfort care, hospice care, and pain management, and must ask but not require the patient to notify their next-of-kin. If either doctor believes the patient's judgment is impaired by a psychiatric or psychological disorder the patient must be referred for a psychological evaluation before proceeding with assisted death.

In 2020, a change to the law allowed patients to skip the waiting period if it was believed to exceed their life expectancy. In 2023, Oregon's law was amended to remove the residency requirement, meaning individuals do not have to be residents of Oregon to undergo assisted death.

According to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), "The law does not include any oversight or regulation that is distinct from what is done for other medical care.... OHA does not investigate whether patients met the DWDA criteria, nor how their diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options were determined."

Washington law

Washington's Death with Dignity Act took effect in March 2009, allowing some "some terminally ill patients to request and use lethal doses of medication from qualified medical providers as part of their end-of-life care." The state defines terminal disease identically to Oregon law, as "an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable judgment, produce death within six months." Patients must be:

• Age 18 or older

• Able to make and communicate an informed decision

• Diagnosed with an "incurable and irreversible disease that will produce death within six months

The patient must:

• Make an oral and a written request for lethal medication to self-administer to end their own life.

• Reiterate the oral request at least seven days after making the original oral request

• Possess a Washington state driver's license or be registered to vote in Washington, own or lease property in Washington state, or show a utility bill

In addition to other requirements, the attending physician must:

• Determine if the patient has a terminal disease, is competent, and has made the request voluntarily

• Must request that the patient show they are a Washington state resident

• Offer the patient a chance to rescind their request to die

• Ensure the patient is making an informed decision

• Refer the patient to another doctor for confirmation of the diagnosis, competency, and voluntary will to die

• Dispense medications directly in person, by messenger service, USPS, or private parcel or contact a pharmacist and inform them of the prescription

• Deliver the prescription by mail, by fax, or electronically to the pharmacist, who will give the medication directly to the patient, the doctor, or a third person requested by the patient

The pharmacist also must submit a record form within 30 days of dispensing the lethal drugs.

California law

California's End of Life Option Act allows "adults diagnosed with a terminal illness, who meets certain qualifications, to request the aid-in-dying drugs from their attending physician." It defines terminal disease as "an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, result in death within six months."

A patient must:

• Submit two oral requests at least 15 days apart and a written request to the attending physician. The written request must meet certain requirements, including the presence of two witnesses (only one can be a relative of the patient) who can attest that they know the patient or the patient has provided proof of identity.

• Be of "sound mind" and "not under duress, fraud, or undue influence."

The prescription "may not be written without the attending physician directly, and not through a designee, offering the individual an opportunity to withdraw or rescind the request."

In addition to other requirements, the attending physician must:

• Determine if the patient is capable of making the decision to die

• Determine the patient's diagnosis and prognosis and if the patient has a terminal disease.

• Determine that the request to die is voluntary and the patient is making an informed decision

• Inform the patient of the ability to rescind their request and offer the patient the alternatives or other treatment options, including comfort care, hospice care, palliative care, and pain control

• Refer the patient to a consulting physician for confirmation of the diagnosis and prognosis, as well as the patient's decision-making capacity

• With the patient's written consent, contact the pharmacist to tell him of the prescriptions, deliver the prescriptions in person, by mail, or electronically to the pharmacist, who may give the drug to the patient, the attending physician, or a third person designated by the patient.

The medications may be delivered to the patient, the doctor, or the third person by personal delivery, UPS, USPS, Federal express, or messenger service.

The Bottom Line:

In every jurisdiction where it has been legalized, assisted suicide is inevitably expanded until virtually anyone can die with help from the government. Safeguards continue to disappear despite the promises made by pro-assisted death legislators.

While most assisted death laws don't allow a person to die by assisted suicide or euthanasia solely based on a mental health diagnosis, those laws failed to protect Mihich as they should have. The devaluing of human life has continued to increase to the point that even those who profess to be in the business of healing and helping — like medical professionals and pharmacists — seem unwilling to take the steps necessary to protect vulnerable people.