Island Hospital spokesman Dennis Richards said "Island Hospital administration has been instructed to formulate the full policy and will do so in the next several days."
Commissioners Buzz Ely, MD, Paul Maughan, PhD, and Chip Bogosian, MD voted in favor, while Laurie Gere and Jan Iversen voted against.
The Death with Dignity Act takes effect statewide next Thursday. The law would allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medications to terminally-ill patients. The patients would then administer the drugs to themselves off hospital grounds.
Island Hospital CEO Vince Oliver sent a survey to the hospital’s medical staff and said “Some will and some won’t participate.”
The ballot initiative, I-1000, passed by a wide local margin last November. It was approved by 75.8 percent of Guemes Islanders voting and 60 percent or higher in most Fidalgo Island precincts.
Washington is only the second state to approve a death with dignity act.
Skagit County's other two hospitals, Skagit Valley Hospital and United General have decided not to allow life-ending medications to be dispensed or administered on campus. Skagit Valley Hospital’s Board made their decision Friday morning. United General’s board made their decision Thursday.
PeaceHealth, which owns St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham and is the largest medical group
in Whatcom County, said it will not participate in the Death with Dignity Act. The Catholic health-care ministry has said that
complying with the measure would go against its mission and values.