A High-Risk Patient: Chronic Care Refusal and Severe Constipation Before Medical Aid in Dying

In jurisdictions where medical aid in dying is legally available to qualified terminally ill patients, certain clinically observed physiologic characteristics are associated with prolonged times to death following the ingestion of prescribed medications. But patients’ behavioral factors may also contribute to this risk. This report highlights how prolonged refusal of medical care, resulting in malnutrition and immobility, contributed to a high-risk clinical profile and an unusually prolonged time to death following medication ingestion.