UPDATED with (1) new details and, below, (2) Linda Fleming’s statement on her “choice of a death that fits my own personal beliefs” and (3) updated list of regional hospitals participating and not participating with the new Death with Dignity law.
(In addition, note two accompanying stories on this Web site, www.peninsuladailynews.com, with reaction from Fleming’s friend and an opponent of the Death with Dignity law)
SEQUIM — A terminally-ill Sequim woman is the first person in the state to die under the assisted suicide law that took effect in March.
Linda Fleming, 66, took her own life Thursday night with a deadly prescription of barbiturates prescribed under Inititative 1000, also known as the “Death with Dignity” law, which voters approved in November.
Fleming was diagnosed last month with late-stage 4 pancreatic cancer, according to Compassion & Choices of Washington, a Seattle-based nonprofit advocacy group for terminally ill patients which announced her death this morning.
The group also released a prepared statement from Fleming, who it said died at her Sequim apartment with her daughter, her dog, a Chihuahua named Seri, and her physician at her bedside.
Fleming pictured her final days filled with growing agony.
“The pain became unbearable, and it was only going to get worse,” Fleming’s statement said.
The only relief would come from ever-stronger doses of medicine, which she feared would also dull her mind.
“I am a very spiritual person, and it was very important to me to be conscious, clear-minded and alert at the time of my death,” Fleming’s statement said.
“The powerful pain medications were making it difficult to maintain the state of mind I wanted to have at my death. And I knew I would have to increase them.”
Fleming expressed gratitude that the new law provided her with “the choice of a death that fits my own personal beliefs.”
A physician prescribed the medication to Fleming, but under the law, patients must administer the drugs themselves.
Steve Hopcraft, a spokesman for Compassion & Choices, did not disclose the names of Fleming’s daughter or her physician who prescribed the drugs she took to end her life.
Fleming chose to stop taking her pain medicine, Hopcraft said, because she wanted to remain alert and conscious.
Stage 4 pancreatic cancer is the most advanced, with many patients given a prognosis of three to six months of life after the initial diagnosis.
The Death with Dignity law was approved in last November’s election with a nearly 60 percent vote statewide.
In Clallam County, where Sequim is located, the measure passed by 60.67 percent. In Jefferson County, the percentage of approval was 72.15 percent, the second highest in the state.
The law is based on Oregon’s measure which passed in 1997. Since then, about 400 people have used the Oregon law to end their lives.
For a patient to use the law, two doctors must certify that the patient has a terminal condition and six months or less to live.
Patients receiving the lethal medication must also be at least 18, declared mentally competent and be a resident of the state.
They must make two oral requests 15 days apart, and a written request witnessed by two people.
A physician prescribes the drugs, but patients in assisted suicides must administer the drugs themselves.
State Department of Health officials said this morning they had no confirmation of Fleming’s death.
To comply with the law, a number of forms are required for each patient but doctors have 30 days to file the forms after the prescription is filled.
As of today, the state health department had received six forms from pharmacists saying they have dispensed the life-ending drugs.
The state has also received five separate forms from individuals declaring a request for medication to “end my life in a humane and dignified manner,” and five doctors have completed forms complying with the rules of the new law.
The health department will report annually on the ages, genders and illnesses of the people who file forms with the state, but the individual forms people complete are exempt from state open records laws.
Under the Washington measure, as in Oregon, doctors and pharmacists are not required to write or fill lethal prescriptions if they oppose the law.
Some hospitals have opted out, which precludes their doctors from participating on hospital property. (See list below)
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LINDA FLEMING’S STATEMENT, as released by Compassion & Choices:
“I had only recently learned how to live in the world as I had always wanted to, and now I will no longer be here.
“So my fatal disease arrived at a most inopportune time.
“The pain became unbearable, and it was only going to get worse.
“I am a very spiritual person, and it was very important to me to be conscious, clear-minded and alert at the time of my death.
“The powerful pain medications were making it difficult to maintain the state of mind I wanted to have at my death.
“And I knew I would have to increase them.
“I am grateful that the Death with Dignity law provides me the choice of a death that fits my own personal beliefs.”
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What regional hospitals are participating with the new “Death with Dignity” law?
YES:
* Jefferson Healthcare, Port Townsend.
* University of Washington Medicine, Seattle.
* Group Health Cooperative, Seattle.
* Harborview Medical Center, Seattle.
NO:
*Olympic Medical Center, Port Angeles and Sequim.
*Forks Community Hospital, Forks.
*Swedish Medical Center in Seattle will not allow providers to participate on Swedish premises and will not allow its pharmacies to fill prescriptions for life-ending medications.
But it will give referrals to other providers and pharmacies if the patient requests it. Physicians can also choose whether or not to participate when they’re not in Swedish facilities.
*Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle will not provide Death with Dignity services in its inpatient hospital.
But individual providers in Virginia Mason’s outpatient clinics — which includes a cancer institute — can choose whether to participate. Virginia Mason pharmacies will not dispense the lethal medications but its pharmacy staff may tell providers who will.
For more information, click on the Washington State Hospital Association Web site, www.wsha.org
Also:
Center for Health Statistics, Death with Dignity Act: http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/formsreceived.htm
Compassion & Choices of Washington: http://www.candcofwa.org
True Compassion Advocates: http://www.truecompassionadvocates.org/index.html
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
