Dr. Shavelson predicts that many physicians who are initially reluctant to provide this option to their patients may become more comfortable after the law goes into effect and they see how it works.
Dr. Burt Presberg, an East Bay psychiatrist who works with cancer patients and their families, attended a talk by Dr. Shavelson, and it led to some soul searching.
He wrestles with his own comfort level in handling patient requests. When he talks, he often pivots from his initial point to “on the other hand.”
Dr. Presberg says he is concerned that patients suffer from clinical depression at the end of life. Sometimes they feel they are a burden to family members who could “really push for the end of life to happen a little sooner than the patient themselves.”
His experience is that terminally ill patients with clinical depression can be successfully treated. He said he believes Dr. Shavelson will be aware of the need to treat depression,”but I do have concerns about other physicians.”
“On the other hand,” he added, “I think it’s really good that this is an option.”
Dr. Shavelson says he’s already received a handful of calls from patients, but mostly he’s spent his time before the law takes effect talking to other physicians. He needs a consulting physician and a pharmacist who will accept prescriptions for a lethal dose of medicine.
Then his mind returns to the patient. “It’s important … that we’re moving forward,” he said. “It’s crucial that we do that because this is part of the rights of patient care to have a certain level of autonomy in how they die.”
To him, this type of care “isn’t so tangibly different” from other kinds of questions doctors address.
“I’m just one of those docs who sees dying as a process, and [the] method of death is less important than making sure it’s a good death.”
Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR, and Kaiser Health News.