State saw 111 deaths using aid-in-dying drugs in ’16
SACRAMENTO — More than 100 terminally ill Californians took drugs to end their lives during the first six months of the state’s End of Life Option Act, public health officials said in a report released Tuesday.
Most of the 111 people who took the life-ending prescription drugs were white and college educated, according to the California Department of Public Health report.
Two-thirds of those who died had cancer, the most common of which were lung cancer and breast cancer, followed by pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, were the second largest group of underlying illnesses of those who used the drug, according to the report.
In all, 173 doctors prescribed lethal drugs to 191 patients in 2016. Of those, 111 people died from taking the drugs, 21 people died before ingesting the drugs and the status of 59 people had not been reported to public health officials within the time period covered by the report — June 9, 2016, to Dec. 31.
“The state’s data show that even during the early months of the law’s implementation, the law was working well and terminally ill Californians were able to take comfort in knowing that they had this option to peacefully end intolerable suffering,” said Matt Whitaker, California state director at Compassion & Choices, the advocacy group that helped pass California’s law.
The median age of the people who died using the drugs was 73. Women used the drug slightly more often, making up 54 percent. Seven of 10 people who died using the law were college educated. And 90 percent were white.
Nearly everyone who used the law had health insurance (96 percent), but that does not mean their health insurance covered the cost of aid in dying. Berkeley physician Lonny Shavelson, who opened a practice specializing in aid in dying, said he has yet to see insurance pay for it. Instead, his patients pay out of pocket for the lethal cocktail of medicines.
Shavelson said the data released Tuesday show that the law is being used by those who have the wherewithal to navigate the health care system, an unfortunate but not surprising revelation.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of interest by people who are poor or of a different ethnicity,” Shavelson said. “Access overall to services in the state are better for people who are richer and white. This law is not the exception.”
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law last year, allowing doctors to prescribe the drugs to their terminally ill patients who request them.
The law requires a terminal patient to give his or her doctor a written request for the lethal prescription and make two oral requests at least 15 days apart. According to the report, 258 people made two verbal requests to their doctor for the lethal drugs.
To be eligible, a patient must have a doctor determine that they have six months or less to live, are mentally competent and understand treatment options, such as palliative care and pain control. A second physician has to confirm that the person has six months or less to live.
If the lethal drugs are prescribed, the person can still decide whether to take them, but is required to take them without assistance.
Twenty years ago, Oregon became the first state to make it legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminal patients.
Three additional states — Washington, Colorado and Vermont — have passed laws offering the option to terminally ill people. In Montana, a court ruled that aid in dying does not violate that state’s laws. California’s law requires the Legislature to reapprove it or it will expire in 10 years.
California modeled its law after Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, passing it with the help of East Bay teacher Brittany Maynard, who moved to Oregon to access aid-indying laws there.
Maynard’s husband, Dan Diaz, said he saw the numbers released Tuesday and felt proud of his late wife for helping people die peacefully without having to travel outside California for a prescription.
“These aren’t just numbers, these are people,” Diaz said. “I’ve talked to family members in the past year of people who have used the law and they are so grateful that Brittany spoke up. The daughter of a 94year-old told me she couldn’t imagine her dad having to leave his home to have this option. That meant the world to me to know the sense of relief he experienced.”