Preserve the End of Life Option Act
Almost two years after I had first met her, she came to my clinic one final time. Lying down on a gurney, her right eye was covered with a shield and her blonde-brown hair was limp and shorter than before. Her body was half-covered with a soft green blanket that complimented her now one visible eye. She was no longer the feisty young woman I had cared for over the past two years, trying to find a cure for the disease that was ultimately going to kill her.
This young woman, who was someone I had taken care of as a palliative care physician along with her oncology team, would now be my first patient choosing to avail herself of the End of Life Option Act.
The law, which took effect in 2016, authorizes the compassionate option of medical aid in dying for terminally ill, mentally capable adults with six months or less to live to get a prescription they can take to end their life peacefully.
I would walk out of that visit in tears of sadness with the thought of never ever seeing her again, but also with a sense of empowerment knowing that I was helping her and not her cancer write the last chapter of her story the way she wanted.
But the law needs to be improved.
Not all terminal patients are able to access the End of Life Option Act like my patient was.
Currently, the law contains far too many obstacles for patients to access the law fairly and equitably.
One of the biggest hurdles is the mandatory minimum 15day waiting period for aid-indying medication.
Many patients die with needless suffering during this waiting period. Just as terminally ill patients often wait too late to enroll in hospice to benefit from it, patients often ask too late about the option of medical aid in dying.
Even patients who make requests of either their primary doctors or their oncologist with plenty of lead time still run out of time to make it to the right people. I’ve had too many patients who did not make it through the law’s 15day waiting period.
Senate Bill 380 would reduce the waiting period to 48 hours (the same waiting period that New Mexico’s legislature approved last month), require healthcare systems and hospices to post their medical aidin-dying policies on their websites, and ensure that patients receive factual information about the End of Life Option Act when they request it.
Sometimes just knowing the options available to them puts patients at ease, even if they decide not to opt for medical aid in dying.
We have to respect what these patients want, regardless of whether we would want it.
Additionally, the End of Life Option Act is set to expire at the end of 2025. We cannot let this happen.
I know how much having this option means to terminally ill patients like it was for the first person I ever wrote a prescription for. SB 380 makes this compassionate law permanent.
I support Senate Bill 380 and its provisions that remove barriers and make medical aid in dying more accessible to patients.
This is a powerful tool for vulnerable patients to maintain autonomy over what’s happening to them and their bodies during a pivotal point in their lives.