On Thursday, June 9, California became the fifth state, after Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill, mentally competent adults. But if you’re a patient at Hi-Desert Medical Center, managing editor Tami Roleff says you’ll need to look elsewhere for a doctor to help you…
With the legalization of assisted suicide in California, terminally ill patients will be able to seek a prescription from their doctor that will allow them to die peacefully in their sleep. Elizabeth Wallner, a single mom from Sacramento with stage four colon cancer, says just having the prescription is a relief, whether she uses it or not.
“Death itself doesn’t really scare me. What scares me the most is dying slowly and painfully and traumatizing my beloved son, Nathaniel, my parents, and siblings, and the other people in my life, whom I love.”
End-of-life advocates expect 1,500 Californians to ask their doctor for the prescription right away and another 34,000 patients a year to inquire about the process. The majority of non-religiously affiliated hospitals are allowing their physicians to participate. However, terminally ill Morongo Basin residents who want their doctor at Hi-Desert Medical Center to help them with assisted suicide will need to look elsewhere. According to a statement from Hi-Desert Medical Center, “Aid-in-dying medication will not be ordered or administered” at the hospital. It adds that its physicians will help patients find a doctor or facility that will participate in the new medical aid in dying law.
“After careful consideration and conversations with our medical staff and leaders, we have determined that aid-in-dying medication will not be ordered or administered in our hospital. Physicians and staff who receive a patient request regarding the End-of-Life Option Act may assist the patient in finding a participating physician/facility.”
HI-DESERT MEDICAL CENTER WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN MEDICAL AID-IN-DYING LAW
