Reported by Robert A. Donin, MPA, President.
After four years, North Coast state Assemblywoman Patty Berg late Tuesday earned thegovernor’s signature on a bill that requires doctors to tell terminally illpatients about their options at the end-of-life.
“It’s a wonderful day,” said Berg. “I’m so pleased that we were finallyable to do something to address the rights of dying people.”Assembly Bill 2747 succeeded where Berg’s other attempts had failed.
The bill says that a patient who learns they are dying of a terminal disease has theright to ask and be told about all the end-of-life options available to them —from pain-management to hospice care.
A recent nationwide study by cancer doctors found that only one in three terminallyill patients were told about their treatment and pain-management options by theirdoctors.
Those patients who did receive information were less likely to die in intensive careand more likely to receive hospice care.
Among supporters of the bill are TRI-PAC Health and Wellness Advocacy, the Medical Association; the CaliforniaPsychological Association; California Nurses Association; California Commission onAging; AIDS Project Los Angeles; Conference of California Seniors.
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this legislation hits home as my father being treated for his colon cancer at Norton Cancer Center was sent home by an intern on a Sunday, he returned within 12 hrs so dehydrated due to the experimental platinum-based chemo drug he had received that he ended up losing his kidneys. thus my dad could no longer be treated with chemo and his death was imminent. I asked in front of my Dad whether the doctor would recommend hospice at that point. He pulled me out of the patient room and said that I was the cause of all my fathers pain and suffering (hard to understand as I had flown out from my home in NH a week before to be my father's advocate by his bedside. No this doctor never talked to my dad about hospice nor recommended it. What a shame 3 months later he died having had tremendous inpatient ills in a cold hospital room. My prayers that your efforts in bringing about this legislation will put the choice of the patient back
in the center. thank you.
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