Under California’s new physician-assisted suicide law, the Central Coast’s largest outpatient health-care provider will offer qualifying patients the lethal drugs they need to end their own lives.
After much discussion among Sansum Clinic’s executive staff, physicians and board members, the nonprofit facility has opted to provide “aid-in-dying” drugs to adult patients who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The End of Life Option Act took effect June 9, and it made California the fifth state to legalize the form of assisted suicide.
Sansum Clinic employs 180 physicians and cares for approximately 125,000 patients throughout Santa Barbara County.
“Given the size of our organization and the scope of services that we provide, it didn’t make sense for us not to allow our physicians to participate and provide this option for their patients in the appropriate clinical situation.” said Dr. Marjorie Newman, Sansum’s assistant medical director.
Newman said Sansum’s physicians have built long-term relationships with patients over the years.
“As difficult and somber a position it is, we felt it would be inappropriate to abandon a patient who made this type of decision,” she said. “It is part of our role to help patients manage the stages of their lives and decisions.”
Under the California law, which is modeled on a 1997 Oregon law, physicians are permitted to prescribe life-ending medication to hasten the death of competent adults. Two doctors must agree the patient has six months or less to live.
The lethal drugs must be self-administered. The law also requires informed consent and it excludes children.
Newman said the paperwork and process take time.
Even though Sansum Clinic will not stop doctors from providing care authorized by the End of Life Option act, individual providers can choose not to participate, she said.
Santa Barbara County’s other major health-care organizations have opted not to provide the end-of-life drug, including Cottage Health, Lompoc Valley Medical Center, Marian Regional Medical Center and Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care. They offer support and education to patients seeking information about the law.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
