Commentary: When it comes time for you to die, who should get to decide what medical services and options are available? Whether youre Catholic or not, the U.S. Bishops may have the biggest say.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union of Washington

Religiously affiliated hospitals in Washington state servce much of the population. Click to enlarge

Tue, Jul 5, 2 a.m.

Meeting in Bellevue, the bishops take a firmer line on physician-assisted aid-in-dying laws and make allegations about abuses that are not supported by the experience in Oregon and Washington.

The freedom to die in peace has been much in the news of late. When an 83-year-old manshotfirst his dying wife and then himself in a Pennsylvania hospice, distressed commenters speculated that local law left him with no better options. The wife was bedridden, in a unit for people who have less than six months to live, and Pennsylvania has noDeath with Dignityprovisions like those in Washington and Oregon.

Washingtons Dignity Act was championed by former Gov. Booth Gardner, who himselfdiedlast month after a protracted fight with Parkinsons disease. Several years ago, I hosted a small gathering in which the former governor battle, through the debilitating veil of his illness, to explain why the issue was so important to him. His effort said more than his words ever could.

The legal rights Gov. Gardner championed are in place in Olympia, and a new Seattle Cancer Care Alliance study shows that the state's Dignity Act is an option that can work well for patients and physicians. But recent events make it clear that the battle is far from over.

Early in March, when a California nurse refused to perform CPR on a dying 87-year-old, her decision created a nationalfirestorm. The Washington State Health Care Association hastened to assure us that nothing like that could happen here. Vice president Wendy Gardner at Merrill Gardens, which runs 24 care facilities across the state,told the Seattle Times, We always start CPR. I made a note to self: Tell the kids to ship me out of state when my time is getting close, to someplacenotcalled Merrill Gardens.

Two years ago, I scheduled a routine colonoscopy through Seattles Polyclinic and was horrified when the pre-operative paperwork informed me that the Polyclinic does not honor patients end of life directives. The staff explained that this is because they are an outpatient surgery facility. Are you saying that your statusobligatesyou to violate my wishes orallowsyou to violate my wishes? I asked. They couldnt say. Time was short, and I went through with the procedure but started transitioning my care away from the clinic. If there is one thing that is absolute for me it is this: my body is my own.

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Spread of Catholic health care raises barriers to care choices