In the first three years that physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has been legal in Oregon, about two persons per month have taken medication to end their life. Most physicians are unwilling to prescribe the lethal medication. Because many terminally ill people are confined to their bed or home, the difficulty of finding a willing physician may have resulted in many abandoning the idea of using PAS. People living a long way from a large urban centre may be severely disadvantaged in their ability to obtain medication to end their lives.