Colorado end-of-life choice

Colorado registered voters will decide Nov. 8 if Proposition 106, the Colorado ìEnd of Life Options Act,î moves forward or dies at the polls. According to the propositionís documents submitted to the Colorado Secretary of State, the measure allows terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to legally self-administer aid-in-dying drugs.The proposition would also allow a physician to legally prescribe the aid-in-dying medication to a terminally ill patient under certain circumstances, but it would be illegal to coerce a patient with a terminal illness into requesting the drug.To receive aid-in-dying medication, adults must be

• 18 years or older and a Colorado resident
• Terminally ill, with six months or less to live
• Mentally capable of making their own health care decisions
• Fully informed of all their care options, including pain management, palliative care, hospice and comfort care
• Free from undue influence or coercion and have two physicians agree the person is not impaired mentally to make the decision
• Able to self-administer the medication
• Offered multiple opportunities to rescind the request for aid-in-dying medication by the physician
• Confirmed as mentally capable and volunteering to request the meds by having two witness signatures on the aid-in-dying medication request form

According to the website http://coendoflifeoptions.org, proponents of the proposition, such as Doctors for Colorado End-of-Life Options,say, ìPatients should have access to a full range of end-of-life choices, including aid in dying.î Aid-in-dying is patient directed and one ìcomponent in end-of-life care, not an alternative to hospice or palliative medicine.îOpponents of the proposition, like Peggy OíKeefe, spokeswoman for the No On Proposition 106 campaign, believe there are too many loopholes. ìWhy is there not a requirement that a physician be present (when the medication is administered)?î she said. ìYou are sending someone home with this medication and what if it does not work? What if it leaves them in more pain?With this proposition, insurance companies have the incentive to approve prescriptions for the aid-in-dying medications because it is less expensive than treatment, OíKeefe said.ìThere are not enough checks and balances in this (proposition) and that is not OK,î she said. ìWe as voters get one shot at this, and we better get it right.î