Resources

End of Life Washington State has all the forms you will need, an easy-to-navigate web site, and all their forms are free to download.

End of life choices: https://endoflifewa.org/end-life-choices/

Death With Dignity Act: https://endoflifewa.org/death-with-dignity-patients/

Planning: https://endoflifewa.org/tools-for-planning

End of life news: https://endoflifewa.org/news

End of life choices: https://endoflifewa.org/end-life-choices

End of life Tools for Planning: https://endoflifewa.org/tools-for-planning

End of life request client service support: https://endoflifewa.org/request-support

If you live in California, Oregon, or Washington you have the option for Death With Dignity. Some health providers are restrained from offering Death With Dignity due to their religion, or the religion that owns the hospital or nursing home. There are doctors who will prescribe the medications in South Central Washington.

The states and Washington DC have their own laws and many have their own forms. Be sure to check for the state in which you live. And if you live in two states, it is strongly advised that you complete the forms for each state. This site is a wealth of information—The Conversation Project, Consumer’s Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Directives, The Stanford Letter Project, CaringInfo, Go Wish Game, MyDirectives, Advance Care Planning Decisions, Compassion and Choices, Thinking Ahead: My Way, My Choice, My Life at the End, Five Wishes, Guides for Health Care Agents. 
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/resources/health_care_decision_making/Advanceplanningresources.

Two short videos (the third is in Spanish) to help you start the conversation. Produced by National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD)—April 16
https://theconversationproject.org/nhdd

Two references for Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED) directives. The first is VSED Resources Northwest and looks pretty complete.

https://vsedresources.com

https://www.compassionandchoices.org/our-issues/vsed

An online book group. The book for April 2024 is Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. It’s a marvelous book. https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/659b3160eb28943d007f7bfd

Provides Hospice Services for Benton and Franklin Counties, also Grief Support Groups lead by a Grief Counselor. If you are interested in Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), I couldn’t find anything on the website about it, so be sure to inquire. 
https://tccbestlife.org/about-chaplaincy

The last time I checked, they no longer listed their support for MAiD; however, I asked and they said they no longer have a doctor on staff to write the prescriptions, but they will still support a client who chooses to take advantage with the Death with Dignity. Their service area is Yakima County and the Tri-Cities. 
https://heartlinkshospice.org

I was contacted by a person from Lanier Law Firm asking if I would consider adding them to my resources list. With pleasure. I don’t know a lot about Mesothelioma, but do know it’s a hard way to die, and it was what killed the actor, Steve McQueen. You’ve probably seen their ads on television. https://www.lanierlawfirm.com  

• How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter by Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, MD
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
• On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
• no death, no fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann
• Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch
• The Day I Die: the Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig
• Death Wins a Goldfish: Reflections from a Grim Reaper’s Yearlong Sabbatical by Brian Rea
• Dying Well—Peace and Possibilities at the End of Life by Ira Byock, MD
• Passage by Connie Willis (Novel)