McLean: Make end of life options real with palliative care
California has been the leading state for legal end of life options, just recently passing the End of Life Option Act. End of life options don’t end with the aid-in-dying medication that is available to terminally ill patients. Palliative care’s mission is to help people who are terminally ill have the best quality of life and death possible. Having the right to die how you wish is a right just like any other. Palliative care options for people are just as important in the End of Life Option Act that California just passed.
The integrity of the physician-patient relationship is deeply rooted in our trust that physicians will work toward our health and well-being and that, when cure is no longer possible, they will accompany us in the dying process, providing comfort and relieving our pain through aggressive palliative care and the opportunity for hospice care.