Washington D.C. Progress in Implementing Medical Aid-in-Dying Act

Compassion & Choices today praised D.C. Health for releasing two years of reports showing it is making progress in implementing the D.C. Death with Dignity Act, despite repeated congressional attempts to repeal the law since it took effect on Feb. 18, 2017. The D.C. Death with Dignity Act allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to have the option to request a doctor’s prescription for medication they can decide to take if their end-of-life suffering becomes unbearable, so they can die peacefully in their sleep. Eight states currently allow medical aid in dying: California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Montana (via state Supreme Court ruling), New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont. In addition, Maine will allow this option starting Sept. 15. Collectively, these 10 jurisdictions represent more than 1/5 of the nation’s population (22%) and have more than 40 years of experience successfully implementing this medical practice. D.C. Health released two reports showing no D.C. residents used the law in 2017, but that four terminally ill D.C. residents received prescriptions for aid-in-dying medication in 2018; two of these people took the medication to peacefully end their suffering from cancer, but two others died before taking the medication. “Repeated congressional attempts to repeal the law have unfortunately caused confusion about the status of the law, discouraging doctors, healthcare providers and patients from...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs