It can happen sooner than you think
Prepare to deal with issue of assisted suicide
Changing public opinion combined with improved awareness of palliative care means your facility might be facing the issue of assisted suicide sooner than you think.
"It’s an issue of personal liberty, and the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of personal liberty. It might not be next year, but it will happen in the next several years," predicts Peter A. Rasmussen, MD, an oncologist in Salem, OR. Rasmussen has had two patients request assisted suicide since Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act went into effect.
"Assisted suicide is such a scary topic that most states will be watching Oregon for several years. The federal government might go as far as outlawing assisted suicide, but that would likely be overturned through any decision by the courts," he explains.
In the meantime, there’s plenty an ethics committee can do to improve end-of-life care in the institutions they serve, says Ronald A. Carson, director of the Institute for the Medical Human ities at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
"Because Jack Kevorkian makes better press than down-to-earth discussions of how to improve the conditions of dying in America, we have had insufficient public dialogue about humane dying. That situation is now changing as people whose family members have had to endure more suffering than was necessary and advocates for the dying get organized," Carson says.
Improve end-of-life care by taking the following steps, Carson recommends:
• Get involved.
Become a member of Americans for Better Care of the Dying, a national charitable organization dedicated to public education and public policy advocacy. Carson also suggests getting two of the group’s publications, Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People facing Serious Illness and The Advocate’s Guide to Better End-of-Life Care. (For more information, contact Americans for Better Care of the Dying, 2175 K St. N.W., Washington, DC 20037. Telephone: (202) 530-9864. Fax: (202) 467-2271. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.abcd-caring.com.)
Another organization dedicated to improving end-of-life care is Last Acts, a national coalition that has published a report from its palliative care task force. Last Acts is funded through the Princeton, NJ-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (Contact the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Route 1 and College Road E., P.O. Box 2316, Princeton, NJ 08543-2316, E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.lastacts.org.)
Carson also suggests joining the Robert Wood Johnson Community-State Partnership to Improve End-of-Life Care in your state. Four grants have been implemented with an additional 13 in the planning stage. (Contact Myra Christopher, director of the Community-State Partnerships program, Midwest Bioethics Center, 1021-1025 Jefferson St., Kansas City, MO 64105-1329. Telephone: (816) 221-1100. E-mail: [email protected].)
• Do some research.
Find out what Americans think, Carson recommends. An analysis of values and opinions on end-of-life care and assisted suicide is available from American Health Decisions’ Quest to Die with Dignity report. (Contact American Health Decisions, P.O. Box 599, Appleton, WI 54912-0599.)
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