We Made a Splash!

Dear Petition Allies, On June 9th, the day that assisted suicide became law in CA, we held a Stand Against ALL Suicide gathering in front of our local branch of Adventist Health (SRMC). We had 17 people attend our gathering in the middle of a work day, with just 24-hour advanced notice. We received lots of honks and waves and were even able to have a couple extensive conversations with pedestrians. About an hour into the gathering, the chief medical officer came out to speak with me. We continued the conversation in his office and we were joined by the SRMC President. They explained that SRMC will be adopting a written policy that was created by Adventist Health corporate. (Please contact me if you would like a copy. It is likely that it has been distributed to the leadership at the other facilities as well). I again expressed my concern that this policy does not directly address the requests that we made in our petition, including that AH prohibit its affiliated physicians from participating in physician-assisted suicide. For the first time, both administrators told me that they plan to tell their SRMC physicians (whether employees or independent contractors) that they cannot participate in any aspect of assisted suicide (while working within the scope of their duties with SRMC). I did not receive clarification on whether SRMC plans to allow other persons to participate in any of the steps while on their premises, which would include a situation where an outside person brings the lethal drugs to the hospital or to one of the skilled nursing facilities for a patient to ingest on the premises. When I asked about why the SRMC stated in the newspaper article that "what a doctor does with their patient is their business," the President informed me that this was inaccurate information and that a correction will be published in the same newspaper. Interesting.... At the end of our meeting, I stressed the importance of all prohibitions being communicated in a PUBLIC written policy for two main reasons: 1.) The End of Life Option Act requires that any prohibitions regarding participation be communicated in writing. This allows for discipline of professionals should the policy be violated. 2.) There has been a lot of confusion over what SRMC's policy will be, and the best way to clear up the confusion is to have a written policy. A written policy might also provide a foundation for recourse to a patient should the policy be broken. Hopefully these new promises from SRMC will be codified in writing. And I hope these events encourage all of your to initiate your own advocacy in other areas where AH has facilities. It is my hunch that individual facilities have some discretion as to what their policies will be, and may be open to community feedback. Thanks for your ongoing support! And I enjoy hearing from you! Jennifer