For nine years, David Grube’s patient fought her peritoneal-carcinomatosis, a rare cancer of the stomach lining. She endured a slew of different treatments including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and thermal ablation, a procedure that uses heat to remove certain tissues. “She tried to beat it,” says Grube, a family medicine physician in Oregon and medical director for Compassion & Choices, and advocacy group for medical aid in dying.
By 2019, Grube’s patient was in her 80s and actively dying. With the support of her family, she chose a planned death, which involved a prescription from Grube that would allow her to pass away peacefully.
Currently, nine states, as well as the District of Columbia, allow medical aid in dying. About 20 percent of Americans live in places where medical aid in dying is permitted. At the moment, medical aid in dying is only available to adult patients with a terminal disease and ...
