There have been no unexpected complications among patients who chose assisted suicide, but one patient remained alive for a day after taking the medication. This protracted dying process caused distress to both the family members and the clinicians involved. Similar cases have been reported previously, they added.
*Correction, 4/12/13: An earlier version of this story described findings from a study (citation) in the New England Journal of Medicine. That study misstated the percentage of Death with Dignity patients among all annual patient deaths reported at the Seattle Cancer Center Alliance.