Latest Kaiser Health News Stories
When Does Life Begin? As State Laws Define It, Science, Politics, and Religion Clash
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?
Nueva ley de California facilita el proceso de ayuda para morir
Una modificación a la ley vigente reduce el tiempo entre las peticiones necesarias para obtener los medicamentos para terminar con la vida. También protege más a los pacientes.
New California Law Eases Aid-in-Dying Process
Nearly 2,000 terminally ill Californians have used a 2015 law to end their lives with a doctor’s assistance. A revision of the law will make it easier to do so.
Getting a Prescription to Die Remains Tricky Even as Aid-in-Dying Bills Gain Momentum
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.
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
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?
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.
At Death’s Door, Shedding Light On How To Live
When you learn you have a terminal illness, how do you live with purpose and authenticity?
“Nunca se está listo para morir”: cómo eligen su último día los pacientes de muerte digna
Para Aaron McQ no fue fácil elegir su último día. Abatido por la leucemia y por una enfermedad degenerativa, el ciclista y navegante contó su viaje de la vida a la muerte por decisión propia.
‘No One Is Ever Really Ready’: Aid-In-Dying Patient Chooses His Last Day
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.
Suspension Of California’s Aid-In-Dying Law Leaves Sick Patients In Limbo
Doctors have stopped writing lethal prescriptions and pharmacists have stopped filling them after a court fight over how the law was enacted.
Matrimonio captura en video sus últimos días de vida
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.
Oregon Couple’s Final Days Captured In Intimate Aid-In-Dying Video
Dr. Charles Emerick and his wife, Francie, died together last spring after both being diagnosed with terminal illnesses. First, they let their daughter turn on the camera.
At Some Veterans Homes, Aid-In-Dying Is Not An Option
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.
As Doctors Drop Opposition, Aid-In-Dying Advocates Target Next Battleground States
Will efforts to expand the practice to Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii succeed this year?
New ‘Instructions’ Could Let Dementia Patients Refuse Spoon-Feeding
Patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias can say in advance if and when they want caregivers to stop offering food and fluids by hand.
California’s Aid-In-Dying Law Turns 1, But Not All Doctors Have Adopted It
At least 500 terminally ill Californians have asked for the medicine that allows them to end their lives, and nearly 500 health organizations have signed on to help.
Docs In Northwest Tweak Aid-In-Dying Drugs To Prevent Prolonged Deaths
Some terminal patients, typically high-dose opioid users, who choose to end their lives have taken many hours, even days, to die.
Right-To-Die Fight Hits National Stage
A Republican-led effort to overturn D.C.’s aid-in-dying law may catalyze a broader effort to ban the practice nationally.
Aid-in-Dying Laws Don’t Guarantee That Patients Can Choose To Die
In California, Colorado and four other states, many hospitals, health systems and doctors just say no.
