Iowa Death with dignity act protects our right to die with dignity

A bill has been introduced in the Iowa Legislature entitled the Iowa Death With Dignity Act. The bill would make Iowa the sixth state to allow terminally ill patients who meet specific and stringent criteria to have some degree of control over their dying process. I have written about and researched this topic, and it has been my experience that there is extensive incorrect information circulating related to death with dignity. I think it so important that Iowans read the bill for themselves.

To quote directly from the bill (italics are mine): 'An adult patient who is competent, is a resident of this state, has been determined by the patient's attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and has voluntarily expressed a wish to die, may make a written request for medication that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life…”. The bill requires patients to meet several requirements before receiving aid in dying. For example, an oral request must be made by the patient, as well as a written request - and there is a 15-day waiting period; the patient may rescind the request; the patient must be deemed competent; and there must be witnesses to the request. There is also detailed information provided concerning both what is and is not a part of the physician's role/responsibility; and the term 'terminal disease” is defined.

A significant percentage of Americans favor some kind of death with dignity. In a 2015 Gallup poll, 70 percent of respondents answered 'yes” when asked, 'When a person has a disease that cannot be cured do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it?” Based on Gallup polling over time, a strong majority of people have supported this concept for over 20 years.

Oregon was the first state to enact such legislation and California is the most recent. In Oregon, since the law's origin in 1997, 859 people have died with dignity. Of those 859, the two primary diagnoses were cancer (668 diagnoses) and ALS (71 diagnoses). The top reasons patients gave for their decisions were, in order, concerns about loss of autonomy, inability to engage in activities that made life enjoyable, loss of dignity, losing control of bodily functions, being a burden on family/friends/caregivers, and issues around pain.

My beliefs about death with dignity have been shaped by my personal and professional experiences over the last 66 years. When two close family members said to me near the end of their lives, 'It has gotten too hard to die”, it had a significant impact on me.

Should I find myself in a position as a competent adult, living in Iowa, with six months or less to live, I want some control over my final days - for my own sake, as well as the sake of those whom I love and who love me. I want to be able to shorten the dying process should I choose to do so.

In my opinion, most people are not really afraid of dying. They are, as my dad once said to me, afraid of suffering and dying in pain.

The bill has the potential to make a significant impact on how and when we die. I urge Iowans to support it.

' John Westefeld is a Psychologist living in Iowa City. Comments: john-westefeld@uiowa.edu