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Why Oregon Patients Request Assisted Death: Family Members’ Views

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An Erratum to this article was published on 08 March 2008

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Physician assisted death (PAD) was legalized through Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act in 1994 and enacted in 1997.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this paper was to learn from family members why their loved ones requested PAD.

DESIGN

This study used the cross-sectional survey.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants of this study included family members of 83 Oregon decedents who made explicit requests for legalized PAD before their deaths, including 52 decedents who received prescriptions for a lethal medication and 32 who died of PAD.

MEASUREMENTS

Family members rated the importance of 28 possible reasons their loved ones requested PAD on a 1–5 Likert scale, with higher scores representing greater importance.

RESULTS

According to family members, the most important reasons that their loved ones requested PAD, all with a median score of 4.5 or greater, were wanting to control the circumstances of death and die at home, and worries about loss of dignity and future losses of independence, quality of life, and self-care ability. No physical symptoms at the time of the request were rated higher than a median of 2 in importance. Worries about symptoms and experiences in the future were, in general, more important reasons than symptoms or experiences at the time of the request. According to family members, the least important reasons their loved ones requested PAD included depression, financial concerns, and poor social support.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions that help patients maintain control, independence, and self-care in a home environment may be effective means of addressing serious requests for PAD.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a grant from the Greenwall Foundation. The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose. The authors acknowledge statistical support from Eun Sul Lee, PhD.

Conflict of Interest

None disclosed.

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Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linda Ganzini MD, MPH.

Additional information

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the US Government.

Drs. Goy and Dobscha are Department of Veterans Affairs Health Service Research and Development Career Development Awardees.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0542-z

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Ganzini, L., Goy, E.R. & Dobscha, S.K. Why Oregon Patients Request Assisted Death: Family Members’ Views. J GEN INTERN MED 23, 154–157 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0476-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0476-x

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