Death with dignity act may undergo its first major change in Washington state

The Washington State Legislature is considering the first significant changes to the Death with Dignity Act more than a decade after voters approved the law.

The act, approved as Initiative 1000, allowed certain terminally ill patients to receive a lethal prescription of drugs so that they could end their own lives.

Under the law currently, only physicians are allowed to prescribe a lethal dose of prescription medications to dying patients who request them. Patients must make that request, wait 15 days and make the request again.

The proposed changes would allow advanced registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants and osteopathic physician assistants to also prescribe lethal doses. And while patients would still have to make the request twice, they would have to wait just 72 hours before making the second request.

The bill would also prohibit hospitals and clinics from stopping their employees prescribing under the law - as long as employees did so on their own time and not on employers' property - and would allow medications to be mailed to patients.

KUOW's Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins explains. Listen to his reporting by clicking the audio above.