Death With Dignity: What Are Your Questions, Viewpoints?
Oncology Nursing News will be speaking with experts on the matter, and we want to hear from our audience what kind of questions you have.
Death with Dignity laws (commonly referred to as “Right to Die Acts” or “physician-assisted dying”) are heavily debated in the world of oncology and healthcare in general. The law allows healthcare providers to give patients with terminal illness a prescription that will quicken their death.
Physician-assisted dying is legal in Montana per a 2009 State Supreme Court ruling. Laws were also passed allowing the act in: California, Colorado, Washington DC, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington.
Qualifying patients must:
- Live where Death with Dignity Laws are passed
- Be 18 years or older
- Be mentally competent and able of making and communicating healthcare decisions
- Be diagnosed with an illness that will, “within reasonable medical judgement, lead to death within 6 months.”1
Healthcare providers and patients/caregivers alike have vastly different opinions on Death with Dignity. Oncology Nursing News will be speaking with experts on the matter, and we want to hear from our audience what kind of questions you have.
To share your views and questions, take our survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JNJHRFL
Reference
How Death with Dignity Laws Work. Death With Dignity. 2019. https://www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/access/ Accessed March 2, 2020.
