Take some time to look inside their hearts: hospice social workers contemplate physician assisted suicide

This article presents a subset of data from a larger study that explored the impact of the legal choice of physician assisted suicide (PAS) on hospice providers. Eight social workers shared their personal and professional voices about a very controversial and difficult issue. Oregon is the only place in the country where PAS is legal and these social workers practice in an environment where the choice of PAS has been an option for two years. Three overarching themes emerged from the data: (1) the dilemmas that arise from the hospice philosophy; (2) the conflicts that emerge between the choice of PAS and social works' cardinal values and practice principles; and (3) the struggles with personal values and PAS.