The California End of Life Option Act (EOLOA) went into effect on June 9, 2016. Unfortunately, it has sometimes been difficult for patients and families to understand how to access reliable information or to understand whether the End of Life Option Act is a good choice for them.
UCLA has been a participating health system since the Act went into effect in 2016, and has supported the creation of a “gold standard” of end of life care. At the Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology, we have taken a key role in creating policy and facilitating the process for both patients and physicians. Of utmost importance to us is the provision of easily accessible information for patients, but what has been missing until this point is information for family members whose loved one’s have requested the Aid in Dying drug.
The videos below, created with the help of actual family members whose loved ones chose to utilize the End of Life Option Act, are intended to help patients and family members understand details about EOLOA, the real experiences of the families featured in the videos, and how the EOLOA allowed their loved ones to make choices that were true to them at the end of their life. The videos serve to provide tangible information and support for families, by families, who are going through this difficult process. These videos would not be possible without the generous donation of time and energy on the part of the participants, and the financial support provided through the Lucy S. Gonda Fund for the Expansion and Enhancement of Clinical Services in Palliative and Hospice Care in Los Angeles.
