END-OF-LIFE OPTIONS-CHANGES

Amends the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. Expands and clarifies definitions. Requires a mandatory mental health evaluation for all patients requesting medical aid in dying. Strengthens informed consent standards and adds a referral to an Ombudsman when financial concerns influence patient choice. Revises attending and consulting physician duties to include enhanced counseling, documentation, and disclosure requirements. Adds explicit safeguards against coercion or undue influence. Requires detailed recordkeeping and safe disposal of unused medication with reporting to the Department of Public Health. Broadens immunity provisions for good-faith compliance and clarifies protections for physicians present at self-administration. Establishes a Medical Aid-in-Dying Ombudsman Program within the Department of Public Health with authority to review compliance, investigate complaints, and operate a secure reporting portal and hotline. Imposes comprehensive reporting requirements on physicians and directs the Department to publish annual statistical reports with de-identified demographic and clinical data. Prohibits solicitation of medical aid-in-dying services. Mandates training for participating health care professionals on abuse prevention, bias recognition, and disability-competent care. Revises insurance provisions to ensure coverage parity for hospice and palliative care, restricts insurer communications, and clarifies that self-administration does not affect life or health insurance benefits. Provides that a qualified patient's act of self-administering medication shall be indicated on the death certificate (rather than shall not be indicated on the death certificate).