Hospice policy mandating two-week enrollment prior to ingesting aid-in-dying medication

Hospice policy mandating two-week enrollment prior to ingesting aid-in-dying medication
Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine; by Constance Holden, Jeanne Kerwin, Paula Goodman-Crews, Margaret Pabst Battin; 10/2/24
[A white paper from the ACAMAID Ethics Consultation Service.] An aid-in-dying-prescribing physician is concerned about a policy that several local hospices have implemented prohibiting patients from ingesting their aid-in-dying medication during the first two weeks of enrollment. The requesting provider is concerned that this policy requires patients who have made aid-in-dying requests to wait well beyond the 48 hours mandated by law. This potentially results in undue added suffering for the patient. It is also a potentially discriminatory practice, as it leads to unequal access to care.