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Podcasts Take Two
Why aren't more CA doctors participating in the aid-in-dying law?
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Sep 20, 2016
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Why aren't more CA doctors participating in the aid-in-dying law?
Many people are having difficulty finding doctors in California who will agree to prescribe them the medication necessary to end their lives.
Should doctors perform aggressive end-of-life treatments at a patient's request even if the doctor feels the patient won't recover?
California's aid-in-dying law took effect this June, but so far few doctors have been willing to participate in it.
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Many people are having difficulty finding doctors in California who will agree to prescribe them the medication necessary to end their lives.

Assisted suicide became legal in California this June, when the End of Life Option Act officially went into effect.

The law makes it possible for doctors in California to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who've been given at most six months to live.

But there's a big difference between making something legal and making something possible.

Tracy Seipel, a health reporter with The San Jose Mercury News, joined Take Two to discuss why it's so difficult to find a physician willing to prescribe lethal medication.

Dr. Lonny Shavelson, a physician who has started a practice devoted to people who want to end their lives, joined the program as well.

To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.