Cancer patient: My death, my choice

SEATTLE (AP) - After watching her parents suffer with few choices at the end of their lives, Barbara McKay said she wants control over how and when she dies.

The terminally ill patient, who has late-stage ovarian cancer, told a news conference Thursday that she will begin talking to her doctors about choices to end her life under Washington's new assisted suicide law.

McKay, of Kirkland, signed a letter to her physicians, indicating her wish to receive life-ending medication if her cancer becomes too much to handle.

The law, which took effect Thursday, allows doctors to prescribe lethal medication to patients who meet certain criteria.

"I'm going to benefit from the Washington law," McKay said at the event sponsored by Compassion & Choices of Washington, the largest aid-in-dying advocacy group in the state.

"I don't want my family to have to watch me wither away as can happen with cancer," the 60-year-old wife and mother said. "When my time comes, I want to be able to choose my time and my way."

Across town, several dozen people protested the law outside the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Several health systems, including Providence Health & Services, which runs eight hospitals in the state, have chosen not to participate. The UW health system and Group Health Cooperative have not opted out.

Opponents say terminally ill patients need compassion and assistance, not lethal medication to end their lives. They say the law would lead to unnecessary deaths, and that many people facing the end of life may also need help with depression.

"This (law) puts at risk far too many people for the far too few who would actually have choice," said Eileen Geller, a hospice nurse and spokeswoman for True Compassion Advocates, which opposes the law.

Before her father-in-law died last year, Geller said, a nurse brought up assisted suicide to him and led him to believe he should end his life so he wouldn't be a burden to his family.

"One person's autonomy is another person's coercion," she said. "The true message patients receive is 'I should do this, I'm a burden'."

Her father-in-law died naturally.

Mary Gleason, a registered nurse who lives in Snohomish, opposes the law based on her faith.

"I believe all Christians are called upon to defend the dignity of life, to show compassion for people who have lost all hope," she said.

But Dr. Paul O'Donnell, a Seattle oncologist and associate professor at the UW medical school who spoke individually, said the law adds another option for terminally ill patients, and is only one of many options.

He said the law can help patients feel more in control of the dying process, whether or not they follow through with it.

The new law, approved in last November's election with a nearly 60 percent "yes" vote, is based on Oregon's measure which passed in 1997. Since then, about 401 people have used it to end their lives.

Under the law, any patient requesting fatal medication must be at least 18, declared competent and be a resident of Washington state.

Two doctors would have to certify that the patient has a terminal condition and six months or less to live. The patient must also make two oral requests, 15 days apart, and make a written request that is witnessed by two people.