Hospice and physician-assisted death: collaboration, compliance, and complicity

Hastings Cent Rep. 2010 Sep-Oct;40(5):26-35. doi: 10.1353/hcr.2010.0016.

Abstract

Although the overwhelming majority of terminally ill patients in Oregon who seek a physician's aid in dying are enrolled in hospice programs, hospices do not take a major role in this practice. An examination of fifty-five Oregon hospices reveals that both legal and moral questions prevent hospices from collaborating fully with physician-assisted death.

MeSH terms

  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Hospices* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Humans
  • Oregon
  • Organizational Policy
  • Social Responsibility*
  • Suicide, Assisted / ethics*
  • Terminally Ill