Sam Aanestad calls the California Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act an unnecessary “intrusion” into the doctor-patient relationship.

At Compassion and Choices, the nation’s largest end-of-life choice organization, we see things differently. We know talking about death won’t kill you. If patients aren’t ready to hear the truth, they won’t ask for it. No one should force an unwelcome conversation, but the Right to Know Act doesn’t do that. When patients do ask, they want and deserve accurate, complete information. And then, no one should keep it from them.

The Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act (AB 2747), written by Assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine, passed the California Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature. This landmark law simply requires that when a terminally ill person asks about end-of-life options, doctors tell them about all legal choices. Aanestad asserts patients don’t need this kind of information and claims it would do more harm than good. Well, let’s allow patients to make that decision for themselves.

Compassion and Choices sponsored the Right to Know Act because we know dying patients may suffer greatly without crucial information. We also know people with end-stage cancer may suffer through rigorous, futile chemotherapy treatments weeks or even days before death because they think they have no choice. Doctors are not always straightforward about the true prognosis and offer false hope. As a result, treatments can leave patients too weak for spending quality time with loved ones, rectifying relationships or seeking spiritual peace. When patients have full information about all of their options, they are empowered to knowingly choose – or refuse – difficult treatment.

Research is on our side. The May issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported terminal patients who have an end-of-life discussion with their physician are more likely to receive hospice care and less likely to enter an Intensive Care Unit.

Another recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association lists study after study showing that oncologists often continue aggressive chemotherapy long after it is likely to extend life.

Aanestad seems to believe that withholding this crucial information is a humane way to deal with people who are dying. As an organization working with the dying for 28 years, we know information and counseling regarding end-of-life care options is essential to the comfort and peace of many terminally ill patients and their families. These poignant conversations help patients weigh all options and make an informed decision that reflects their values and beliefs. It gives the physician an opportunity for a heartfelt discussion of the benefits and risks of all available treatments, and it can facilitate earlier access to hospice care.

AB 2747 does all of these things. It offers peace and comfort to patients and their families who want to know more. This is why we urge Gov. Schwarzenneger to sign the bill. Knowledge won’t kill you, but cancer will. How can we withhold the information that can bring so much comfort and peace of mind to those deciding how to spend their last days on earth?

Barbara Coombs Lee is president of Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit group focused on end-of-life issues.

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