In this issue:

• New York Times Article Causes Spike at CompassionAndChoices.org
  Jane Brody's second article in the last two months brings many new visitors to CompassionAndChoices.org.
  
  
• Oregon Announces 10 Successful Years of Death with Dignity
  More Oregon terminally ill patients chose to use the state’s Death with Dignity Act this year than ever before, according to a report released today by the Oregon Department of Human Services.
  
  
• American Medical Student Association Shows Strong Support for Aid in Dying
  The American Medical Student Association adopts progressive aid-in-dying policy.
  
  
• Jury Finds Failure to Treat Pain Negligent
  An Omaha jury's verdict will have resounding effects on end-of-life care facilities across the country.
  
  
• In the News
  Media highlights on end-of-life issues.

In Thought and Action is sent to more than 25,000 subscribers every month. We encourage you to forward this e-newsletter to an interested colleague or friend. Anyone can subscribe by sending an e-mail to info@compassionandchoices.org. If at any time you wish to unsubscribe, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.

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Noted author and New York Times columnist Jane Brody created a spike of traffic on the Compassion & Choices' site with her latest column, Terminal Options for the Irreversibly Ill.

While Compassion & Choices receives tens of thousands of hits on our Web site per month, many still do not know about our services and advocacy work. Please help us spread the word!

• Tell a Friend about Compassion & Choices

• Read A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit

• Read Terminal Options for the Irreversibly Ill

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More Oregon terminally ill patients chose to use the state’s Death with Dignity Act this year than ever before, according to a report released today by the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The 10th annual report confirms the safety and effectiveness of the landmark Oregon law. Death with Dignity’s many strict safeguards ensure the law does not unfairly target the poor, disabled or minority populations. Everyone who used the law in 2007 was mentally competent and within six months of death.

As in all previous years, many more people requested the lethal medication than used the prescriptions. In these cases, the comfort they received from having the medication was all they needed to achieve a peaceful death.

Of the 85 patients who requested and received life-ending prescriptions in 2007, only 46 actually administered the medication. An additional three took medications prescribed prior to 2007. Since it was passed in 1997, 341 people have used the Death with Dignity law to end their lives.

Unfortunately, the media continues to use the language of opposition to speak about Oregon's experience with aid in dying. Only opponents call the practice “assisted suicide.” Supposedly neutral newscasters should stop taking sides.

• Write to Your Local Media About Language

• Read the Oregon Report

• Read the Eugene Register-Guard Article

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The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) renewed its support for aid in dying by updating its current position on the practice and adopting a new policy.

The progressive group of more than 68,000 physicians-in-training and practicing physicians joins the American Medical Women’s Association in their support for aid in dying. Together, the groups are leading the nation’s medical professionals toward more patient-directed end-of-life care. The student association first adopted a supportive aid-in-dying policy in the mid 1990’s. The new policy, approved at the group’s March convention, is similar to the one AMWA adopted in 2007.

The student group’s position also supports the practice of aggressive pain management including palliative sedation, as well as provision of a full range of information to terminally ill patients about their legal end-of-life care options.

• Read the AMSA Resolution (PDF)

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An Omaha jury decided last week in favor of the daughters of Frances Tolliver, an 85-year-old woman who died of cancer while a resident of Hospice House. The decision sends a clear message to similar facilities about providing appropriate end-of-life care.

The daughters were represented by renowned trial lawyer Dave Domina and Compassion & Choices legal director Kathryn Tucker.

Mrs. Tolliver’s daughters assert their mother's arduous death was a result of the facility's misrepresentation. Hospice House falsely claimed it could provide noncurative comfort care, but the staff was inadequately prepared to treat Mrs. Tolliver's pain, and her death was anxiety-ridden and prolonged. The jury found Hospice House negligent in failing to provide adequate pain care.

Before she died, Mrs. Tolliver spent a month at Hospice House with the understanding she would receive adequate pain management and comfort care as she died of breast cancer. But her daughters attest that their mother's pain was not properly managed, citing the nurse's choice not to apply a prescribed morphine skin patch to Mrs. Tolliver to avoid ‘wasting’ a patch on a dying person. Mrs. Tolliver lived longer than the nurse predicted and suffered a death full of pain and anxiety.

The case serves as a national wake-up call to end-of-life care providers around the nation. Such facilities claiming to provide comfort and end-of-life care must accurately represent themselves or suffer severe consequences as a result.

Do you have a friend or loved one who has been undertreated for pain? Please contact the Compassion & Choices legal director, Kathryn Tucker:

• Contact Kathryn Tucker

Help Compassion & Choices ensure proper pain care at other facilities:

• Make a secure online donation

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No "Suicide" Label on Initiative
In a victory for Washington's proposed Death With Dignity initiative, a judge on Friday refused to add the words "physician-assisted suicide" to the ballot or official voters pamphlet description. "It is a somewhat loaded term," said Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham. He said it conjures up images of Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician who claimed to have helped more than 100 people die before being convicted of murder in one of the cases.

Suicide Doctor Plans Congressional Run
Jack Kevorkian announced last week he plans to run for Congress, complicating a Michigan race that is expected to be among the most competitive in the nation. The so-called "Dr. Death," who was released from prison last year and remains on parole, will run as a candidate with no party affiliation for a congressional seat representing Detroit's suburbs.

End-of-life Lawsuit Strikes at Stanford Protocols
Groundbreaking suit could define 'comfort care' for the dying. Stanford Hospital & Clinics is attempting to get a lawsuit on end-of-life care thrown out of court. But a Palo Alto family's attorney threw the hospital's own policies and procedures back at the hospital during a Santa Clara County Superior Court hearing Tuesday, alleging that the hospital failed to follow them.