End-of-life hospice care is a decision that many people must face when it comes to a terminally ill family member. Some people who are terminally ill may want to exercise their right to make that important decision for themselves. A program at a cancer care facility in Seattle offers a physician-assisted suicide program that has received praise.
The outpatient clinic for major cancer treatment centers, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, offers a "Death with Dignity" option to terminally ill cancer patients. The state of Washington's 2008 law allowing physician-assisted suicide brought about the program. Since then, in the state of Washington, 255 patients have received the lethal prescription, secobarbital, since 2008.
To be approved for the program, terminally ill cancer patients must make two verbal requests within 15 days. The process will begin only when an additional written request is received from the patient.
"Patients, caregivers, and family members have frequently expressed gratitude after the patient obtained the prescription, regardless of whether it was ever filled or ingested, typically referencing an important sense of control in an uncertain situation," authors of the journal wrote. Data from the program was published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Trice Loggers of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, 114 patients inquired about the program, 40 of them received lethal prescriptions and 24 of them took the drug.
"Our Death with Dignity program both allows patients with cancer who wish to consider this option to do so within the context of their ongoing care and accommodates variation in clinicians' willingness to participate," said the journal.
