May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Fewer people in the Netherlands died by euthanasia or assisted suicides after the practices became legal, a study found.

The proportion of deaths in the nation ascribed to euthanasia, or causing a relatively painless death, fell to 1.7 percent in 2005, from 2.6 percent in 2001, the year before the law was changed, researchers said in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. The rate of doctor-aided suicides fell by half, to 0.1 percent.

The Dutch experience with the suicides may be taken into account as legislators in California, the largest U.S. state by population, decide whether to support a bill to legalize such deaths. In the U.S., euthanasia is nowhere legal, and Oregon alone permits doctor-assisted suicides. While some opponents say legalization will spur suicides, that appears not to be so, one scientist said.

``There is no evidence of a `slippery slope' in Oregon or the Netherlands,'' said Timonthy Quill, a professor of medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, in New York State. ``These are two different situations but the practice seems to be stable over time.''

Quill, who wasn't involved in the study, wrote an accompanying editorial. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia spurred more conversations between health-care providers and patients about end-of-life care, talks that didn't necessarily end in suicide, he said.

``When a patient starts talking about being ready to die, this should be a red flag for more conversation, more understanding about what's going on,'' Quill said in a telephone interview today. He suggested that a physician uncomfortable with such a conversation should contact an expert in end-of-life care.

`Other Ways'

Opponents of physician-assisted suicide say doctors shouldn't have the right to prescribe poison or administer lethal injections.

``I can think of other ways one can stimulate a conversation besides legalizing physician-assisted suicide,'' said Rita Marker, the executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, a Steubenville, Ohio-based nonprofit group opposed to letting doctors kill people, in a telephone interview today.

According to the editorial, 1 in 100 terminally ill patients asked for assistance in dying, though only 1 in 1000 received such assistance. Of those patients, none were clinically depressed, Quill wrote.

The drop in the Dutch numbers may reflect increased use of certain treatments, such as sedatives to induce unconsciousness before death, the authors wrote.

Almost 78 percent of physicians who were mailed the study responded. The study authors estimated that overall, about 80 percent of euthanasia or assisted-suicide cases were reported.

``This study does show that legalizing euthanasia does mean it's still not going to be transparent,'' Marker said.

Free to Talk

Patients are free to talk to their doctor about suicide, Marker said. An assisted-suicide law means that doctors can now broach the topic, which could be emotionally devastating, she said.

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act was passed in 1997. Since the, reports show stable numbers of lethal prescriptions and deaths through 2006, according to an Oregon Web site. The law, permitting physician-assisted suicide, doesn't include euthanasia, in which the patient is killed by another person.

Fabian Nunez, the Democratic assembly speaker in California, is among those introducing the bill AB 374, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide in that state. The bill judiciary-committee approvals in March, and will be voted on by the Senate and Assembly this summer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 9, 2007 17:11 EDT