End of life Option Act
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End of Life Option
The End of Life Option is a legal and reliable opportunity for terminally ill patients who have six months or less to live. Through this option, mentally capable adults can request a life-ending drug prescription from their doctor that will allow them to die peacefully and on their own terms.
How Can We Help?
Accessing all the resources you need from the comfort of your home can be a huge difficulty, but End with Dignity is here to bridge that gap, bringing the information and professionals to you and handling all the logistics.
What Do We Offer?
As professionals in the healthcare field, we are completely prepared, qualified, and educated to assist our patients with the End of Life Act without judgments or personal opinions. We have a specialized team that will help anyone eligible through this journey if/when requested.
The eligibility requirements
for the End of Life Option Act are:
The eligibility requirements for the end of life option act are:
- Adults-18 years or older.
- Life-limiting illness that is incurable and irreversible.
- Prognosis of 6 months or less.
- Mentally capable of making informed medical decisions.
- Voluntarily request the prescription without influence from others.
- Self-administer and ingest the medication themselves.
Contact Us To Learn More About The End of Life Act
We understand that taking this path can be a difficult choice and may cause a great amount of suffering and even conflict within families. Therefore, we work closely with patients to help with the decision-making process, family discussion, and navigating the process to utilize the End of Life Option Act. Please call us if you want more information about the End of Life Option Act or want to know how we can assist you in exploring this option.
End of life option act summary
California has implemented the End of Life Option Act to provide aid in dying for qualifying terminally ill California residents. Signed into law by Governor Brown in October 2015, the law went into effect on June 9, 2016. California is the fifth state to enact an aid-in-dying law.
Participation Is Voluntary For Patients And Health Providers
Partaking in the End of Life Option Act is completely voluntary for individual patient’s health providers (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) as well as health systems, HMOs, hospitals, medical offices, nursing homes, pharmacies and hospices. Insurance providers are not required to cover aid-in-dying drugs or related physician fees. If the patient’s health provider is not participating in the End of Life Option Act, the patient can request basic information or ask for a referral.
Prior To Discussing The Aid-In-Dying Drug, A Patient And Their Physician Should Discuss:
- The patient’s understanding of his/her diagnosis and prognosis
- The patient’s hopes and fears
- The advantages of palliative care and hospice care instead.
- Alternatives for pain control and symptom management.
The Process For Requesting Aid-In-Dying Drugs
If a terminally-ill patient meets the requirements to receive the aid-in-dying drug, the patient and his or her attending physician must follow several steps which are carefully defined in the law, including:
- The patient must make two oral requests, at least 15 days apart, directly to his or her physician (the attending physician).
- The patient must also make one request in writing, using the Patient’s Request for Aid-in-Dying Drug form (PDF), which must be signed by the patient and two witnesses, and provided directly to his or her attending physician. The law does not say specifically when the written request must be made.
- The patient must discuss the aid-in-dying drug request with his/her attending physician without anyone else present (except an interpreter, if needed), to make sure the request is voluntary.
- The patient must then see a second physician (a consulting physician) who can confirm the patient’s diagnosis, prognosis, and ability to make medical decisions.
The Law Requires That The Patient And Attending Physician Discuss All Of The Following:
- How the aid-in-dying drug will affect the patient, and the fact that death might not come immediately.
- Realistic alternatives to taking the drug, including comfort care, hospice care, palliative care, and pain control.
- Whether the patient wants to withdraw the request.
- Whether the patient will notify next of kin, have someone else present when taking the drug, or participate in a hospice program. (The patient is not required to do any of these things)
- That the patient will not take the drug in a public location.
If the patient still wishes to proceed and the attending physician agrees, the attending physician may provide the aid-in-dying drug by either dispensing it directly to the patient or by delivering the prescription to a participating pharmacist. By law, the physician cannot hand a written prescription directly to the patient or their representative.
Before taking the drug, the patient must sign a Final Attestation for Aid-in-Dying Drug form (PDF) which confirms they are taking the drug voluntarily, are under no obligation to take the drug, and may rescind the request at any time. The completed form is to be returned to the attending physician to be placed in the patient’s medical