The End of Life Option Act (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 443 et seq., referred to in this policy as the “Option Act”), as enacted during the 2015-16 Second Extraordinary Session of the California Legislature and effective June 9, 2016, allows certain terminally ill adult patients with the mental Capacity to Make Medical Decisions to request to be prescribed and Self-Administer an Aid-In-Dying Drug to end their life if specified conditions are met.
The Option Act establishes specific procedures and requirements to be followed by patients and Health Care Providers who choose to assist them. It also provides that, upon proper notice, a Health Care Provider may “opt out” or prohibit its employees, independent contractors, or other persons or entities from participating in activities authorized under the Option Act while on premises owned, managed, or directlycontrolled by the prohibiting Health Care Provider or while acting within the course and scope of any employment by, or contract with, the prohibiting Health Care Provider.
UC Health has chosen not to opt out, but acknowledges the rights of individual employees to refrain from participating in activities authorized under the Option Act.
POLICY SUMMARY
It is the policy of the University of California to extend to its patients the choices made available through the Option Act and to comply with its terms. However, the University neither requires nor encourages any individual provider to participate. Participation in activities authorized under the act is strictly voluntary. Health care providers employed by UC Health may choose not to prescribe or dispense Aid in Dying Drugs to their patients, not to serve as Consulting Physicians, not to perform Mental Health Specialist Assessments, not to advise patients of their rights under the Option Act, and not to participate in other activities authorized by the Option Act; and individual patients deemed eligible to receive Aid in Dying Drugs will be provided with information about all of their options, inclusive of comfort care, hospice care, palliative care, pain control, and other alternatives to administration of Aid in Dying Drugs...
Full document at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/uc-health-option-act-policy-revisions.pdf.
Comment period ends June 16.
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