The impact on general practice of prescribing assisted dying drugs

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REGNARD, Claud F.B. | DAVIS, Carol L. | SLEEMAN, Katherine | WILLIAMS, Philip | WORTHINGTON, Ana

Assisted dying is the topic of much debate by societies and governments today. The issue of the drugs used to assist patients in dying, and their safety and efficacy, is rarely discussed. This has important implications for UK general practice if assisted dying is legalised and incorporated into existing health care. Until 2016, doctors in Oregon in the US prescribed one of two oral barbiturates to produce unconsciousness and death. Since the European Commission restricted the sale of these barbiturates to the US due to their use in judicial executions, the availability of these drugs has become increasingly scarce. This has compelled doctors to prescribe experimental drug combinations to bring about patient death. For example, in 2020, 87% of assisted deaths in Oregon have used a drug combination called ‘DDMA’, a mixture of a benzodiazepine, a cardiac glycoside, an opioid, and an antidepressant, with some also receiving a barbiturate. In Canada, oral protocols vary from a barbiturate plus antiemetic, to combinations of a benzodiazepine, barbiturate, opioid, and a hypnotic. Oregon has used four different protocols in the last 7 years.

https://bjgp.org/content/71/712/516.long

Voir la revue «The British journal of general practice, 71»

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