George Eighmey This is Me

Education

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1. 1. www.mailtribune.com

   www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs. - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/19/2008   Last Visited: 3/19/2008

   "In 10 years, it should be noted that it continues to be seldom used, but the impact on people is positive, as more people start the process and find comfort in it," said George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, a group that advocated for the law.
   
   He said people can find comfort in taking control of all sorts of end-of-life decisions, from seeking medical assistance to end their lives to finding pain management and making wills and funeral plans.
   
   "When all of those details are tended to, we can be comforted and be happier," he said.
   ...
   The questionnaire evaluating those end-of-life concerns was developed by an ethics committee at Oregon Health and Science University based on possible reasons people might end their lives put forth by advocates and opponents of the law, Eighmey said.
   
   He noted that the fears the law prompted - that minorities, poor people and those without insurance would feel pushed toward the option, that unscrupulous health care providers would prey on the elderly, or that the option would pre-empt adequate mental health care - haven't been seen.
   ...
   Eighmey said the number of psychological evaluations has dropped from one in four patients in 1998 to none, but attributed that to physicians and other caregivers, such as hospice social workers, including better screening for mental health issues earlier in treatment and feeling more comfortable with their own abilities to assess patients making requests for lethal prescriptions.

2. 2. Compassion & Choices of Oregon - Recent News

   www.compassionoforegon.org/ind - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/19/2008   Last Visited: 2/19/2008

   "It's going to be difficult for opponents to argue that Washington is so different from Oregon," said George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, which works with more than two-thirds of the Oregonians who end their lives that way. "Washington is just a bigger Oregon," he said.
   
   Early opponents fought the Oregon measure as unethical, unworkable and unjust. They raised fears that residents of other states would move to Oregon simply to avail themselves of Oregon's law; that patients would feel undue pressure from relatives; and that the law would be used disproportionately by the poor, the less educated and the uninsured.
   
   "None of those things happened," Eighmey said.

3. 3. seattletimes.nwsource.com

   seattletimes.nwsource.com/html - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/2/2007   Last Visited: 10/3/2007

   A bit later, Lovelle and George Eighmey, head of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, an advocacy group that works with most of the Oregonians who end their lives under the Death With Dignity Act, danced a brief but rousing polka.
   
   By midafternoon, the studiously punctual Lovelle was falling behind her schedule. No one complained.
   
   But a little before 4 p.m., she began her final preparations by taking two pre-medication pills -- to calm her stomach and control vomiting. They were hard to swallow, given the tumors in her neck.
   
   "It" would be in about an hour, she told her family. Time now to sit alone with her mom, Vi Svart, in her bedroom for the last time. The rest of the group sat in the living room, debating whether they wanted -- and whether Lovelle wanted them -- to be in the room with her at the end.
   
   Lovelle's three siblings and her mother, despite deep misgivings about her decision to end her life, supported her in her choice.
   ...
   Eighmey stood by her bedside. He has attended more than three dozen deaths.
   
   "Is this what you really want?"
   ...
   Eighmey warned her that the clear liquid would taste bitter. She needn't gulp it. She would have about a minute and a half to get it down.
   
   Lovelle dipped her right pinky into the glass and tasted.
   
   "Yuck," she said. "That's why I need the Gatorade."
   
   Holding the glass, Eighmey asked her again to affirm that this was her wish.
   ...
   Eighmey was surprised how long she was lingering. But not her family.
   ...
   Eighmey leaned over at 10:42 p.m. and put his ear to her chest to listen for a heartbeat. He stepped back, shaking his head and spoke in a quiet voice.
   
   "She's gone."