The Washington voter-approved Death With Dignity Act is working

Fourteen years ago, my partner of eight years had a very bad death. Despite excellent medical and hospice care, his burning fevers, agitation and other symptoms remained intolerable. His suffering from the loss of all dignity and quality of life was even worse. Although he wanted to end his life when he became bedridden, it wasn’t possible. His grueling, drawn-out dying process was demeaning, unnecessary and pointless.

Thanks to the compassion and wisdom of nearly 60 percent of Washington’s voters in 2008, dying patients like my former partner now have the option to use the Washington Death With Dignity Act. The law gives qualified, terminally ill adults the right to ask their physicians for life-ending medication the patient may choose to self-administer to bring about a peaceful, humane death. The law also gives medical providers the right not to participate.

The Washington Department of Health recently released its first annual report on the new law. Just as we predicted during the Initiative 1000 campaign, only a very small percentage — less than 1/10 of 1 percent — of terminally ill Washingtonians elected to take life-ending medication under the law. Most were suffering from end-stage cancer and were receiving hospice care at the time of death.

Several of those who received life-ending medication died without taking it. All of these patients, whether they took the medication or not, gained peace of mind and comfort from knowing that if their suffering became unbearable, they had a way out.  Read Article

By Robb Miller