More than 70 people crowded in the Porter Hall of the Skidompha Library for a presentation about end-of-life options during the annual Emil Landau Human Rights Forum Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Valerie Lovelace, founder and executive director of It’s My Death, addressed the crowd about a person’s right to take control of his or her own death. Lovelace founded Wiscasset-based It’s My Death in 2014 after her sister passed away from cancer at the age of 49.
Lovelace said the goal of It’s My Death is to reframe end-of-life questions and allow people to connect with death and dying in an authentic way.
“By generalizing a discussion about dying, we sidestep the intimacy of our own mortality,” Lovelace said. “I promise you, talking about death is not what kills you.”
This year, Maine’s death rate surpassed the birth rate, Lovelace said. If current trends continue, Lovelace said only 30 percent of people will die at home in their sleep, while the remaining 70 percent will die in hospitals or other health care facilities.
Lovelace said it is becoming more widely acknowledged that deaths from chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and lung disease can occur under extremely difficult or excruciating circumstances that cannot be managed by conventional practices, despite what has been commonly taught.
Lovelace also discussed aid-in-dying laws currently enacted in the United States. Physician aid in dying is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont. California recently passed the California End of Life Option Act, which will become effective in 2016.
Under these laws, a competent, diagnosed, terminally ill, adult patient can request a prescription of a lethal dose of medication, Lovelace said. The patient must be found to be within six months of the end of their life by two physicians, and the medication must be self-administered. The entire process must be documented, Lovelace said.
A similar bill failed to pass in Maine in June.
“Choosing aid-in-dying is not a death decision,” Lovelace said. “It’s a life decision.”
Lovelace encouraged those in attendance to maintain a current advance health care directive, which would outline their wishes regarding medical treatment, and designate an advocate to make sure the directive is carried out.
“It’s very important to have a conversation with your advocate about what you want to happen to you,” Lovelace said. “Any advocate you choose to act on your behalf should be fully aware of your wishes and prepared to stand their ground.”
After her presentation, Lovelace answered questions from the audience.
The Emil Landau Human and Civil Rights Forum was established in 2008 in honor of the late Landau, a Holocaust survivor and former resident of Damariscotta. Previous topics of the forum include bullying and issues pertaining to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.