Washington: Doctor’s pill can kill on your will

Washington, March 2: Terminally ill patients will be allowed to end their lives on their own will under Washington state's ‘Death with Dignity’ law, which goes into effect on Thursday.

Patients may ask their doctors to prescribe a lethal medication, only if they are 18 or above and expected to die within six months. There must be an oral and written request, signed and dated by the patient and two witnesses, one of whom must not be related to the patient or be entitled to his estate.

The physician, on his part, must ensure that the patient is competent and has made the request voluntarily. Also, he must inform the patient of available alternatives and refer him to another physician to confirm the terminal diagnosis.

The doctor must try and recommend the patient for counseling, especially if he is believed to be suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder.

Despite the legal consent for ‘Death with Dignity’, people seeking the life-ending prescriptions could face resistance from the doctors.

Many doctors are hesitant to talk publicly about where they stand on the issue, said Dr. Tom Preston, a retired cardiologist and board member of Compassion & Choices, the group that campaigned for and supports the law.

"There are a lot of doctors, who in principle, would approve or don't mind this, but for a lot of social or professional reasons, they don't want to be involved," he said.

The new law might help raise the level of comfort in discussing end-of-life issues between doctor and patient and could turn out to be “a cultural shift.”

After Oregon, Washington is the second state to have a voter-approved measure for death-on-will.

However, the law does not go well with all medicos. Like Dr. Stu Farber, director of the palliative care consult service at the University of Washington Medical Center, who said he does not plan to prescribe lethal medication to his patients for now.

"I am not here to tell people how they should either live their life or the end of their life," Farber said. "There's possibly a story out there, in the future, that's so compelling that maybe I would write a prescription."

After learning about the cause that had prompted such a decision, Farber said he would refer patients to Compassion & Choices of Washington, the state's largest aid-in-dying advocacy group.

The advocacy group is preparing a list of physicians who are prepared to act on the law and pharmacies that are willing to fill the prescriptions.

Since the law came into effect in Oregon in late 1997, more than 340 people — mostly ailing with cancerdefine — have opted to end their lives using the state’s measures.