OLYMPIA, Wash. – Terminally ill patients with less than six months to live will soon be able to ask their doctors to prescribe them lethal medication in Washington state.

But even though the "Death with Dignity" law takes effect Thursday, people who might seek the life-ending prescriptions could find their doctors conflicted or not willing to write them.

Many doctors are hesitant to talk publicly about where they stand on the issue, said Dr. Tom Preston, a retired cardiologist and board member of Compassion & Choices, the group that campaigned for and supports the law.

"There are a lot of doctors, who in principle, would approve or don't mind this, but for a lot of social or professional reasons, they don't want to be involved," he said.

But Preston said discussions about end-of-life issues between doctor and patient will increase because of the new law, and he thinks that as time goes on more and more doctors who don't have a religious or philosophical opposition will be open to participating.

"It will be a cultural shift," he said.

It just keeps getting worse and worse.

In large part it is fear: fear of cancer and other debilitating diseases; fear of becoming a burden to one's family; fear of surviving without really living; and, perhaps most of all, fear of severe, uncontrolled pain. The voters in Washington and the people polled by Gallup were saying the same thing. They want a law that gives them the right to choose to die rather than having to live a life destroyed by pain or other circumstances beyond their control.

It is entirely understandable that many people feel this way. Before such laws are adopted, however, there should be a careful examination of what is being done to address at least one major contributor to patients' fears: pain. In 1990, a World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee found that the greatest improvements in quality of life for cancer patients and their families would result from implementation of existing knowledge about pain and symptom management. The committee concluded that "...with the development of modern methods of palliative care, legalization of euthanasia is unnecessary. Now that a practical alternative to death in pain exists, there should be concentrated efforts to implement programs of palliative care, rather than yielding to pressure for legal euthanasia" (WHO, 1990). The WHO Expert Committee recommended that governments, including that of the United States, devote specific attention to cancer pain relief and palliative care before considering laws allowing euthanasia.

I agree with Wolfie!  Finally, compassion and common sense prevail in Washington state.  I wish all states had a "Death with Dignity" law in place to help terminally ill people...at least offer them a choice in ending their constant pain.

I figured the religious nutjobs would come pouring out of the woodworks over this issue.