Washington Improving Access to DWD Act moved to Senate

At Friday, March 26th, HB1141, the Improving Access to Death with Dignity Act, has moved forward to the Senate Floor. The Washington Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care decided so, voting 7 to 5 on approving.  There will be challenges facing this bill as it goes to the full Washington Senate for a vote.

The bill

HB 1141 allows:

• advanced practice registered nurses or physician assistants to act as either the attending or consulting medical provider for individuals who want to access the Death with Dignity Act. A physician would still have to be one of the other two providers in either case. 
• reduces the waiting period from 15 days to 72 hours, and allows the attending and consulting providers to waive the waiting period if the terminally ill individual’s death is imminent. 
• modernizes the rules around how and when individuals can obtain their aid-in-dying prescription from a pharmacy.

Read more

• Track the bill here and watch videos of the various committees and hearings. 
• Washington a step closer to improvement of Death with Dignity Act – The World Federation of Right to Die Societies (wfrtds.org)
• Increasing Access to Death with Dignity in Washington – End of Life Washington