SB 739

This bill permits an individual who is at least 18 years of age, mentally capable,

and has a terminal disease with a prognosis of less than six months to live to

voluntarily request a prescription for medication for the purpose of ending his or her

life. Under the bill, “terminal disease” means an incurable and irreversible disease

that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment,

produce death within six months. The bill authorizes the individual's attending

provider to issue a prescription for the medication if specified requirements are met.

Under the bill, an attending or consulting provider must be a licensed physician, an

advanced practice registered nurse, or a physician assistant. Death following

self-administering medication in accordance with the requirements of the bill does

not alone constitute grounds for post-mortem inquiry and such a death may not be

designated as suicide or homicide.

The bill requires that the Department of Health Services develop and distribute

certain standard forms to be used for reporting by attending providers in the context

of requests for medication under the provisions of the bill.

The bill establishes certain requirements that must be met before an attending

provider may issue a prescription in response to an individual's request for a

prescription for medication to end his or her life. With certain exceptions for an

individual who is determined to be within 15 days of death, a qualified individual

must make an oral request and a written request and reiterate the oral request to

his or her attending provider no less than 15 days after making the initial oral

request. The oral and written requests for medical aid in dying may only be made

by the requesting individual and not by any surrogate decision-maker, health care

proxy, attorney-in-fact for health care, or through an advance health care directive.

The written request must be substantially in the form provided in the bill. It must

be signed and dated by the individual and witnessed by at least one individual who

meets certain qualifications and attests that the individual is capable, acting

voluntarily, and is not being coerced or unduly influenced to sign the request.

The bill requires an attending provider to comply with certain requirements

with respect to requests for medication under the bill, including 1) determining

whether an individual has a terminal disease with a prognosis of six months or less

to live and is mentally capable; 2) confirming that the individual's request does not

arise from coercion or undue influence; 3) informing the individual of certain

information specified in the bill, including the potential risks, benefits, and probable

result of self-administering the prescribed medication; 4) informing the individual

that there is no obligation to fill the prescription nor an obligation to self-administer

the medication, even if obtained; 6) providing a referral for comfort care, palliative

care, hospice care, pain control, or other end-of-life treatment options as requested

or as medically indicated; 7) referring the individual to a consulting provider for

medical confirmation that the individual requesting medication under the bill both