Pending state legislation proposing patients with terminal illnesses to end their lives with lethal prescriptions by physicians or nurses is misdirected, the Kaua’i Hospice contends. The Legislature is moving in the right direction by addressing the rights of patients to
Pending state legislation proposing patients with terminal illnesses to end their lives with lethal prescriptions by physicians or nurses is misdirected, the Kaua’i Hospice contends.
The Legislature is moving in the right direction by addressing the rights of patients to decide their fate, but physician-assisted deaths “is not the way to go,” says Kaua’i Hospice education coordinator Shana Ross.
Painkillers and the support from hospices can significantly ease the pain patients will have as their lives come to an end, Ross said.
“The bill asks the right questions, but it looks at the wrong solution, physican-assisted deaths,” Ross said.
Should the bill become law, Hawai’i would be only the second state in the nation, behind Oregon, to have such a law in place.
The Hawaii “dignity with death” legislation doesn’t authorize mercy killing, assisted suicides and euthanasia.
Hawai’i legislative committees are currently looking at different bills and plan to hold public hearings on them this year.
The bills propose certification of the terminal illness by physicians, declarations approving termination of life and waiver of criminal or civil offenses against medical personnel.
Legislators say the bills are under consideration because people living longer and healthier, due in part to medical advances.
Ninety percent of the people who die each year in Hawai’i are victims of prolonged illnesses or have experienced a decline in their health, legislators.
In one Senate bill:
– A declaration authorizing death would be signed by a patient whose terminal condition has been certified by a doctor and two witnesses.
– The declaration remains in effect for 30 days after being signed, although it can be revoked.
– No active steps will be taken to resuscitate a terminally ill patient or to restore that person to consciousness.
– Physicians or nurses who administer the lethal prescription will not face civil liability or criminal offenses.
– Medical personnel will not be in breach of professional oaths.
– Penalties will be assessed against those who conceal, destroy, falsify or forge a declaration.
– Insurance polices will remain in effect.
Another Senate bill proposes a constitutional amendment to create the law.
A House version, meanwhile, proposes two physicians certify the illness as being terminal before a physician-assisted death can be carried out.
Also, a declaration authorizing death would be kept with the patient’s medical records.
Ross said the bills erroneously presumes pain must accompany death and noted hospice services and painkillers like morphine can take away the bitter sting of death at the end of life.
“Death doesn’t have to be painful. Death can be bonding. Families can bond, “she said. “We can surround our loved ones at a time of death with love and care. That is death with dignity.”
Kaua’i Hospice, which is located in Lihu’e, helps families deal with life-threatening illnesses and provides bereavement support.
Hospice offers care through staff and volunteer – social workers, clergy and home health care aides – to support people in their homes so they can remain in the comfortable and loving atmosphere of family surroundings, Ross said.
Ann Jackson, executive director of the Oregon Hospice Association, said her state’s death with dignity law is used in only 7 for every 10,000 deaths. In general, people with terminal illness in Oregon have faced impending death with painkillers and hospice services and support, Jackson said.
“The primary reason people use the Oregon law is because they want to control the time of their death,” Jackson said.
Some have sought out the use of the law only as a last resort “should their worst fears come through, meaning the pain,” Jackson said.
Jackson said her organization has taken no stand on the law and “respects the wishes of people” on whether they chose physician-assisted suicides or the services of the hospices and use of painkillers.
Oregon passed its dignity with death-assisted law in the 1994, it was put into effect in 1997, after hurdling legal challenges. The law allows the use of federally controlled drugs – usually barbiturates – to help patients die.
To request a fatal prescription, a patient must be at least 18 and an Oregon resident, capable of communicating health care decisions and diagnosed with an illness that will lead to death within six months.
The lethal dose can be then self-administered.
