Patients, their families, and physicians have been satisfied with a ‘death with dignity’ physician-assisted suicide program made available to terminal cancer patients at a Seattle clinic, clinicians there reported.

Among 114 patients who asked about the program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the outpatient clinic for the city’s major cancer treatment centers, 40 passed screening examinations and ultimately received lethal prescriptions for secobarbital, although only 24 actually took the drug, according to Elizabeth Trice Loggers, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the clinic and its affiliated centers.

‘Patients, caregivers, and family members have frequently expressed gratitude after the patient obtained the prescription, regardless of whether it was ever filled or ingested, typically referencing an important sense of control in an uncertain situation,’ the authors wrote in the April 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

‘Our Death with Dignity program both allows patients with cancer who wish to consider this option to do so within the context of their ongoing care and accommodates variation in clinicians’ willingness to participate,’ they added. ‘The program ensures that patients (and families) are aware of all the options for high-quality, end-of-life care, including palliative and hospice care, with the opportunity to have any concerns or […]