[Prudence]

I'm fortunate to not have had any personal experiences with this subject.

However, I work with faculty who are involved with end-of-life care and research. At the moment, my biggest concern is the impact the SC ruling will have on EOL care of people NOT actively seeking to end their lives.

Pain management is a big issue. Many care providers are afraid and/or unwilling to provide the full measure of pain relief dying patients need, for fear that the care providers will be accused of hastening death. What is a care provider to do when, for example, the appropriate dose of pain medication needed to relieve the patient's pain also further decreases the patient's respiratory function and thus may hasten death? What happens when death is not the goal, but the unavoidable side effect of pain relief?

When an administration, such as this one, goes to such lengths to assert its position on physician-assisted suicide, even care providers NOT involved in suicides have to be extra careful, lest someone disapprove of the care provided. Result? Patients suffer.