Latest News On Aid In Dying

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Traveling To Die: The Latest Form of Medical Tourism

KFF Health News Original

Medical aid in death is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. But only Oregon and Vermont explicitly allow out-of-state people who are terminally ill to die with assistance there. So far, at least 49 people have made the trek while state legislation stalls elsewhere.

‘Financial Ruin Is Baked Into the System’: Readers on the Costs of Long-Term Care

KFF Health News Original

Thousands of people shared their experiences and related to the financial drain on families portrayed in the “Dying Broke” series, a joint project by KFF Health News and The New York Times that examined the costs of long-term care.

Disability Rights Groups Sue to Overturn California’s Physician-Assisted Death Law

KFF Health News Original

Disability rights advocates and two individuals with disabilities sued Tuesday to overturn the state’s physician-assisted death law, arguing it is unconstitutional, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and makes it too easy for people with terminal diseases whose deaths aren’t imminent to kill themselves with a doctor’s help.

When Does Life Begin? As State Laws Define It, Science, Politics, and Religion Clash

KFF Health News Original

For decades, the U.S. medical establishment has adhered to a legally recognized standard for brain death, one embraced by most states. Why is a uniform clinical standard for the inception of human life proving so elusive?

Getting a Prescription to Die Remains Tricky Even as Aid-in-Dying Bills Gain Momentum

KFF Health News Original

Access to physician-assisted death is expanding across the U.S., but the procedure remains in Montana’s legal gray zone more than a decade after the state Supreme Court ruled physicians could use a dying patient’s consent as a defense.

Terminally Ill, He Wanted Aid-In-Dying. His Catholic Hospital Said No.

KFF Health News Original

Neil Mahoney had terminal cancer. He also had a legal right to aid-in-dying. But his faith-based hospital called it “morally unacceptable.” So he turned to a network of Colorado doctors to fulfill his last wish.

Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge To Aid-In-Dying Laws

KFF Health News Original

In Colorado case, the right to aid a cancer patient’s death runs up against faith-based hospital policies. As more states have passed laws, about 1 in 6 acute care beds nationally is in a hospital that is Catholic-owned or -affiliated.

Will Ties To A Catholic Hospital System Tie Doctors’ Hands?

KFF Health News Original

Doctors at the University of California’s flagship San Francisco hospital are sharply divided over a proposal to join forces with a Catholic-run system that restricts care on the basis of religious doctrine — part of a broader public debate as Catholic hospitals expand their reach.

‘No One Is Ever Really Ready’: Aid-In-Dying Patient Chooses His Last Day

KFF Health News Original

With its expansion to Hawaii this year, medical aid-in-dying is now approved in eight U.S. jurisdictions. Even when legal, the controversial practice of choosing to die after a terminal diagnosis is difficult, said one Seattle man who shared his final deliberations.

Matrimonio captura en video sus últimos días de vida

KFF Health News Original

Bajo la ley de muerte digna de Oregon, Charlie y Francie Emerick, casados durante 66 años y ambos con enfermedades terminales, decidieron morir el mismo día, tomados de la mano. Una de sus hijas grabó el video.

At Some Veterans Homes, Aid-In-Dying Is Not An Option

KFF Health News Original

Citing fears of losing federal funds, California is the latest state to require discharge of terminally ill residents from state veterans homes if they plan to end their lives with lethal drugs.