Physician-assisted suicide in cancer

Perhaps this was lost in all the excitement of the presidential election, but I just realized this morning as I looked at the final tallies and referendums, that Washington state now also allows physician-assisted suicide (or at least the electorate voted to allow it, I'm sure there will be many legal challenges in the works for some time).

This is an interesting issue to me as I did some of my training in Oregon, which is home to the Death With Dignity Act, which legalizes a form of physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill Oregonians. HemOnc Today has previously written about the Death with Dignity Act here. From what I have read online, the Seattle provisions to prevent this law from being misused sound exactly like Oregon's.

While I have some experience with assisted suicide patients from my time in Oregon, I still feel strongly ... well, ambivalent about the whole affair — neither pro nor con. I understand that there are some patients who have intractable suffering at the end of life, some who feel much better knowing they can control the time of their death. I also understand that the words of the Hippocratic oath and the act of helping a patient commit suicide seem to be mutually exclusive. Yes, I get both sides. Dan Savage (who is, uh, a sex advice columnist, so I won't link to the direct article, but you can get there through this link if you wish) wrote a moving column about being in favor of Washington's I-1000 Death with Dignity Act. A former Washington governor is also in favor of I-1000. The other side also has compelling arguments, including the argument that our efforts should be focused on better palliative care rather than better ways to commit suicide. It's very loaded. I'm interested in your opinion if you want to share it.