As it Turns Out

Initiative 1000

Death. It’s a scary word to some of us, conjuring up all kinds of possible unknowns. There is no more intensely personal experience in our lives than dying, and none we’d rather just ignore. In 2000, as I was nearing completion of a month-long Hospice volunteer training, my 82-year-old mother had a stroke and ended up in an emergency room, in a coma dying. Thankfully, she had a Living Will. My sister and I were able to be with her as she passed, each of us holding one of her hands and speaking our appreciation. My imagination couldn’t help but wander to all the sorts of beautiful things she might be experiencing in her process to her next stage.

Not all deaths are as quick and gentle as Mom’s. That’s why I’ve taken the time to look at Initiative 1000 carefully. The Death with Dignity initiative “would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents medically predicted to die within six months, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.”

“The measure requires two oral and one written request, two physicians to diagnose the patient and determine the patient is competent, a waiting period, and physician verification of an informed patient decision. Physicians, patients and others acting in good faith compliance would have criminal and civil immunity.” More safeguards are explained at www.itsmydecision.org and www.yeson1000.org.

Oregon has had 10 years since passing their Death with Dignity Act, which I-1000 directly follows. The state of Oregon and independent researchers have performed annual studies, which have proven the law to be safe. (See “The Oregon Experience” by Dr. Nicholas Gideonse at itsmydecision.org.) Sponsor, former Governor Booth Gardner, said, “80 to 90 percent of patients who use the Oregon law are in hospice, and hospice workers there support the system.”

Personally, I would prefer to have end-of-life choices. While I respect all religious faiths, and I respect the rights of people of those various religions to not personally take the options that I-1000 provides – my belief is it shouldn’t be up to others to dictate how I must die. How long a dying patient is able to stay and fight death is up to that person and his/her family, and to their own beliefs.

Having brushed against my own mortality three years ago, I was given a chance to contemplate in depth what a cancer patient’s death could be like. If a dying patient reaches the conclusion that they are in unbearable pain and suffering, and palliative care is no longer able to help them, how can anyone morally or ethically deprive them of choice and dignity?

“In the end, being for or against I-1000 isn’t about causing or preventing death ... It’s about granting – or mercilessly withholding – a measure of self-determination to those who have lost control of their bodies and in many respects, their lives.” (D. Parvaz, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Even if the Death with Dignity initiative doesn’t pass the November ballot, perhaps it will help us discuss end-of-life issues; make plans including advance directives; make hospice and palliative care more available; and health care and insurance more available to everyone.

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