SB 5654 - DIGEST

     Declares that a competent terminally ill adult has the right to make a voluntary, revocable, recorded request for his or her physician to prescribe or provide medication or a medical device that, if self-administered by the patient, will, in a painless, humane, and dignified manner, shorten the process of dying.

     Provides for witnessed recorded request for aid in dying.

     Provides for examination by two physicians.

     Requires the provision of aid in dying by physician only.

     Provides for revocation of the request.

     Declares that a physician or health care professional is not required to provide or participate in aid in dying if he or she is opposed.

     Declares that a privately owned health care facility is not required to permit aid in dying in that facility.

     Declares that no physician, or licensed health care professional acting under the direction of a physician, who acts in good-faith compliance with the requirements of this act, shall be liable for professional misconduct or disciplinary action solely because of his or her participation in aid in dying.

     Provides that no insurer doing business in the state of Washington shall refuse to insure, cancel, refuse to renew, reassess the risk of an insured, or raise premiums on the basis of whether or not the insured has considered or completed a recorded request.

     Provides that:  (1) Any person who unduly influences another to execute a recorded request, including through persuasion that the patient is a financial, emotional or other burden to his or her family, other persons, or the state, is guilty of a misdemeanor; or, if death occurs as a result of such undue influence, is guilty of a felony punishable according to the laws of this state;

     (2) any person who fraudulently induces another to execute a recorded request is guilty of a misdemeanor; or, if death occurs as a result of such fraud, is guilty of a felony punishable according to the laws of this state;

     (3) any person who willfully thwarts, conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or damages the recorded request of another without that qualified patient's express consent is guilty of a misdemeanor;

     (4) any person who falsifies or forges the recorded request of another, or willfully conceals or withholds personal knowledge of a revocation as provided in section 8 of this act, with the intent to hasten death contrary to the wishes of the qualified patient, and thereby directly causes hastening of death, is guilty of the crime of murder and shall be punished according to the laws of this state; and

     (5) nothing in this chapter may be construed to condone, authorize, or approve the deliberate ending of a life without a qualified patient's documented and witnessed request.

     Declares that medical facilities for the sole purpose of aid in dying are not permitted in this state.