Making Choices About How We Die
A movement to encourage end-of-life conversations among family and friends is gaining traction through The Conversation Project, a Boston-based nonprofit. Meanwhile, Kaiser Health News profiles two doctors who are part of a California lawsuit asking the court to protect physicians from liability if they prescribe lethal medications to patients who are terminally ill and mentally competent to decide their fate.
PBS NewsHour:
How Do You Want To Die? A Mission To Make Death Part Of Popular Conversation
A growing national movement to normalize end-of-life discussions among family and friends has gained traction in recent months. As Medicare considers whether to cover such conversations with physicians, The Conversation Project, a Boston-based nonprofit, is highlighting the importance of talking openly about dying. (3/28)
Kaiser Health News:
Hoping To Live, These Doctors Want A Choice In How They Die
The right-to-die movement has gained renewed momentum in California and around the nation following the highly publicized death of an East Bay woman with brain cancer. Brittany Maynard, 29, moved to Oregon to take advantage of its “Death with Dignity” law and died in November after taking a fatal dose of barbiturates prescribed by her doctor. ... Kathryn Tucker, an attorney on several of the court cases, is also spearheading the California lawsuit. This time, she and her legal team decided to include among the plaintiffs two doctors with life-threatening illnesses, Swangard and a retired San Francisco obstetrician. Physicians "have a very deep and broad understanding about what the journey to death can be like," said Tucker, executive director of the Disability Rights Legal Center. "The curtain is pulled back. For lay people, death is much more mysterious." (Gorman, 3/30)