What is Death with Dignity?

In this episode, I share what I learned about Death with Dignity in Oregon. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every day that bad is I learn a little more. It's something I've never seen before. It's up to danger I'm feeling all the time. Everything around is filters through my mind.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hello and welcome back to Death is My Life podcast. I'm your host, Jolene, and I have not put out any podcasts lately, and I apologize for that. I've been just super busy and really haven't had the mind capacity to think of any episodes or pursue any guests, but I am I'm getting back in the game, you guys. Okay. Please send me um an email or a message if you have any ideas or if you want to be a guest or if you know anybody who might want to be a guest, send them my way. And I would appreciate that. So this is a topic that's been coming up a little bit more than I've usually experienced it in the past. So I thought it'd be good to talk about on the podcast. Although I will say I'm researching it myself. I don't have firsthand experience, and I'll explain why in a little bit. But yeah, let's dive into it. So death with dignity is what we call it in organ, and I'm speaking only for organ, of course. Death with dignity is basically when a person has a terminal diagnosis and a prognosis of less than six months. On paper, that means you know the doctors have decided their prognosis is less than six months to live already. So they are given the choice to hasten that process and end their own life sooner. There is a lot of stipulations and a lot that they have to go through in order to get this granted to them in the legal manner. So I will say Oregon was the first state to offer death with dignity. And I think we're up to 12 or 13 states now that do have some form of it, although they are all called something different and they all have different processes. So I am a hospice nurse, and we are not allowed to have anything really to do with this process, other than just, you know, being aware of it and supporting the family maybe in the moments leading up to it or in the aftermath. But as for the medications themselves, we aren't even allowed to be present while the person is administering them to themselves. And I think that just you know eliminates any room for any controversy or anything. So it makes sense. But therefore, I really don't know a ton about it. But I thought, you know, as the as it's popped up more in my job, I've just seen it a little bit more than I have lately. Or I'm lately I've seen it more than I have in the past. So I wanted to like know a little bit more, and so I thought maybe you would too. So I'm just on the end of Life Choices organ website, which is eolcorgan.org. And I'm just gonna kind of go through the bullet points and then we'll talk about it. So the Death with Dignity Act, there are requirements for eligibility in organ. The person has to be a legal adult, so 18 years old or older. And the terminal illness that we talked about of six months or less to live has to be confirmed by two doctors. The person has to be able to make their own choices, so they have to be, you know, in full mental capacity, as well as they have to be physically able to ingest the medications without assistance. So the two organ physicians must meet with you and evaluate your medical eligibility. One prescribes the medication and the other one provides a supporting opinion. They so the it's a choice. So in the from what I've seen, the person who goes through the end of life choices organ program and the two doctors, they have to actually submit their own requests two times verbally and one time written to the doctor. I guess it's just you're really um hounding them and letting them know that you want this, and in order to even get started with the process. So then the doctor will discuss the medications with you. You have to be able to self-administer the medications and then potentially is covered by insurance, but not always. There's no obligation to fill the prescription, or of course, to take it. So I have seen people who have it stashed away somewhere safe and they choose never to take it and end up dying a natural death. I have seen people who pursued it and didn't make it in time and died naturally before they had the option. I've seen people who wished they could do it, but didn't have the physical ability to take their own medications, so they didn't qualify. And I've seen people who got the medications and did end up taking them. So the medications that they give, it's a compound. So that means that the pharmacist will mix together the medications, and they are in extremely high doses, and it's a combination of uh sedatives that will suppress your your heart and or your breathing and usually a painkiller and an anti-anxiety. So the whole process of dying after the medications have been taken is intended to be very peaceful and painless. I had a caregiver once who was asking me what to expect after the medications were taken, and I honestly had no idea except for that it should be peaceful. She was asking, do we still need to give the routine comfort medications and look for the signs and symptoms that we do during a natural dying process? And I didn't know, so I wanted to come over here and look it up for you guys so that I could look it up for myself. And I believe that it is peaceful. I think the medications usually work, and I haven't actually heard of any cases that they don't or that it's not very peaceful. I think again the doses are very high and usually it looks like the person's falling asleep, and then their respirations get more shallow and further apart until they stop breathing. So after the person gets the medications, I said that they can choose to take them or not. There's a variety of different of course, everybody's path is different, and you never know how you're gonna feel. So having the option, I guess, is there and some people find comfort in taking the choice and taking matters like having the ability to take matters into their own hands, I guess. Sometimes people will let us know ahead of time when they're planning to do it, and from a hospice perspective, you know, we'll offer to be there if they want us there. Having said that, we have to step out of the room while the medications are being taken. And then in the aftermath, we can, you know, be present to support, watch for any symptoms if they should arise. And then sometimes families do not want us present, they just want to let us know. And then they will call us after the person has stopped breathing, and then we work with the funeral home and take it from there. So I know that this has been a controversial topic in the past, and I think that it stems from maybe a religious standpoint of is it suicide? And I I don't have an opinion on it. I don't think it's fair for me to speak on how on anybody else's journey.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

The places I travel, the people that have me, the things that we're gonna be, the night I travel for the life of me, the bramble and I feel, the places I travel, the people allow me.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Since 1972, owner Rick Havern has delivered immaculate, custom-built cabinetry and countertops for projects of every scale, from luxury homes to hotels, hospitals, and retail environments. Whether you're renovating a home or outfitting an entire building, their work will exceed your expectations. Learn more or request a quote at haverncabinetry.com. Link in the show notes.