Old Books, Warm Cookies, and Death With Dignity

Eric Ardman

doi:10.1370/afm.3003

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RE: Eric Ardman. Old Books, Warm Cookies, and Death With Dignity.
Steven A. Wahls

Published on: 08 August 2023
RE: Thank you
Cory Carroll

Published on: 28 July 2023

Published on: (8 August 2023)
Page navigation anchor for RE: Eric Ardman. Old Books, Warm Cookies, and Death With Dignity.
RE: Eric Ardman. Old Books, Warm Cookies, and Death With Dignity.
Steven A. Wahls, Family Medicine/ Urgent Care & Aerospace Medicine, High Lakes Health Care
Editor:

As one who has worked side by side with Dr. Ardman’s preceptor, and spent several years precepting at his primary clinic, I appreciate this resident’s efforts to process the experience of assisting with a patient suicide. I fear that his preceptor’s input- and the attendant didactic experience- may not adequately address the ethical complexities of helping someone die by their own hand, nor represent the perspective of many Oregon physicians.

In 2022, 146 Oregon physicians (out of 12,580 licensees) provided 436 lethal prescriptions, most in NW Oregon. Interestingly, of those prescribers the number of “Consulting physicians” outweighs “Attending Physicians” by a significant margin (1,2). Data is not clear about how many primary care physicians actually took part in assisting with their patient’s demise.

The history of health care in our country has been fraught with situations where lines of compassion become blurred- whether by patient request, legislation, finance, or a physician’s actual or perceived power.

I have been privileged to care for my patients in many venues, from OR to ICU, from stress test lab to maternity unit, from nursing facilities to private homes. Yes, including those with disseminated ovarian and other cancers. I choose to treat every patient with compassion and dignity. As a life affirming clinician, I adhere to an oath going back millennia, where I can be trusted not to take a life or suggest that patients for whom...
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Editor:

As one who has worked side by side with Dr. Ardman’s preceptor, and spent several years precepting at his primary clinic, I appreciate this resident’s efforts to process the experience of assisting with a patient suicide. I fear that his preceptor’s input- and the attendant didactic experience- may not adequately address the ethical complexities of helping someone die by their own hand, nor represent the perspective of many Oregon physicians.

In 2022, 146 Oregon physicians (out of 12,580 licensees) provided 436 lethal prescriptions, most in NW Oregon. Interestingly, of those prescribers the number of “Consulting physicians” outweighs “Attending Physicians” by a significant margin (1,2). Data is not clear about how many primary care physicians actually took part in assisting with their patient’s demise.

The history of health care in our country has been fraught with situations where lines of compassion become blurred- whether by patient request, legislation, finance, or a physician’s actual or perceived power.

I have been privileged to care for my patients in many venues, from OR to ICU, from stress test lab to maternity unit, from nursing facilities to private homes. Yes, including those with disseminated ovarian and other cancers. I choose to treat every patient with compassion and dignity. As a life affirming clinician, I adhere to an oath going back millennia, where I can be trusted not to take a life or suggest that patients for whom I care do such (3).

Steven A. Wahls, MD, FAAFP

1. Oregon Death with Dignity. 2022 Data Summary.
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARC...
Accessed August 7, 2023.

2. Oregon’s Primary Care Workforce, Oregon Health Authority.
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HPA/ANALYTICS/HealthCareWorkforceReporting/03...
Accessed August 7, 2023

3. Greek Medicine: The Hippocratic Oath. History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html
Accessed August 7, 2023
Show Less

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (28 July 2023)
Page navigation anchor for RE: Thank you
RE: Thank you
Cory Carroll, Family Physician, Foothills Family Care, LLC
Dr. Ardman, Thank you for this wonderful article that is full of truth and compassion. I am grateful to call you a colleague in the world of family physicians.

Competing Interests: None declared.