As of April 5, 2018, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have Death with Dignity Statues; the Hawaii statute, approved in 2018, goes into effect on January 1, 2019. In Montana, physician-assisted dying has been legal by State Supreme Court ruling since 2009.(Death with Dignity.org)
States that don't authorize aid in dying have unclear and unenforceable laws. An underground practice has no safeguards. An authorized practice facilitates transparencey and provides safeguards, such as mandatory reporting and state oversight.
California became the fifth state to allow people with terminal illness to request pills from their doctors to end their lives. In the first six months the law was in effect, 111 terminally ill patients ended their lives, that way.
Dr. Bob Uslander, who specializes in palliative and hospice care, said that at a recent speaking in San Diego, he fielded dozens of questions about not just physician-assisted death but also end-of-life care options.
He said he thinks that the unprecedented interest spurred by the law will lead to more thoughtful planning around death, such as creation of more advanced care directives. "We'll get more people to actually make their wishes known and document their wishes," Uslander said.
Dr. Stephen Lockhart, chief medical officer for Sutter Health, said that before the law went into effect, doctors received training in how to talk about aid in dying, but also in other end-of-life options. They had their questions answered by medical ethicists.
He said that more patients than before are broaching the topic with their physicians. Even patients who have wills or advanced care directives had not always planned out their end-of-life wishes with their families.
"It takes a certain amount of courage to step into those conversations and ... we have people now stepping into those conversations, and they now have the support to move through them," he said.(governing.com)