A PR AC TIC E SUR VEY O F CL INICIA NS PR OVIDING ME D ICA L A ID IN D YING MICHAEL POTTASH, MD, MPH 1, KAYLA SAIKALY 1, MAXIMILLIAN STEVENSON, PHARMD, MA, BCPS1, BENJAMIN KROHMAL, JD, HEC-C2 Abstract: Clinicians who provide aid in dying are still developing best practices, especially about the most ethically complex clinical questions. This article focuses on two of those: (1) whether to attend the ingestion of the aid-in-dying medications; (2) whether to raise the option of aid in dying with patients who have not yet raised it themselves. We surveyed clinicians registered for the American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying’s online listserv who had prescribed an aid-in-dying medication. Seventy-two clinicians responded to our survey (21%). On average, they reported caring for 99 patients considering an assisted death, having written an average of 65 aid-in-dying prescriptions. In answer to the two clinical questions we found: (1) Clinicians were just as likely to report “often” or “always” attending the ingestion of aid-indying medications as they are to report “rarely” or “never.” Clinicians who report practicing in a “specialized aid-in-dying practice” were more likely to report attending the ingestion than the general physician respondents. (2) 21% of clinicians reported that they “often” or “always” raise the option of aid in dying with patients who have not raised it themselves, while 45% report they “rarely” or “never” do. Even when accounting for different practice types, there appear to be a variety of practices in the overall cohort of clinicians caring for patients considering aid in dying. 1. Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Medicine, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC. 2. John J Lynch Center for Ethics, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC. Corresponding author: Michael Pottash, MD MPH
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