Doctor: My terminally ill patients deserve end of life options
peter.suber's bookmarks 2018-02-25
Summary:
"Patients should make decisions regarding testing and treatment based on their personal values and beliefs. It is for this reason that I support Rep. Paul Baumbach’s bill, HB 160, which is positioned to deliver to terminally ill Delawareans the freedom to live out their final weeks and days as they see fit, by authorizing an additional end-of-life care option known as medical aid in dying.
Medical aid in dying is an end-of-life practice in which a terminally ill, mentally capable adult who has a prognosis of six months or less to live requests, obtains and — if his or her suffering becomes unbearable — may self-ingest a physician-prescribed medication that brings about a peaceful death.
Medical aid in dying has been extensively discussed in the medical community. A 2017 Medscape poll shows that 57 percent of U.S. doctors support medical aid in dying, backing the rights of patients with an incurable illness to seek a dignified death.
The Massachusetts Medical Society recently announced that it has dropped its longstanding opposition to medical aid in dying and adopted an informed view of neutrality after surveying its members. The physicians surveyed supported medical aid in dying by a 2-to-1 margin...."