Ex-hippie, you are ill-informed and may even have been lied to.
My wife, an RN who often works with dying patients, says the following to you:
"It is nearly impossible in the current medical environment for a terminal patient to be suffering because a doctor is unable to or afraid to prescribe the medication they need. The only time I see patients in unnecessary pain is when family members directing their care believe that we are using the pain meds to 'control' the patient and make their care easier on us. Otherwise, if I call the doctor and tell them the current med level isn't controlling the patient's pain, they will prescribe more or different meds, period. In the rare cases where we have a crappy doctor who won't do so I can refer the matter to my nursing supervisor, who refers it to the doctor's chief, and the problem will get solved. The patient in agony because of government controls or a lack of legalized assisted suicide is simply not a factor in real-world care."
thank you for that post. I will take it into consideration now.