618 Californians Get End of Life Option Act Prescriptions in 2019

A new report from the California Department of Public Health shows that physicians wrote 618 prescriptions under the End of Life Option Act in 2019. 405 died after ingesting the drugs.  

The demographic features of these terminally ill, adult, capacitated patients match those of patients in previous years and in other states - 87% white, 85% on hospice, 90% insured, 75% college educated, 68% with cancer. Unfortunately, this data does not reveal much about access issues, because California does not collect and report thorough data.