Rights of Passage provides clinical and trauma-informed care for individuals considering medical aid in dying (legal in New Mexico since 2021), voluntary stopping of eating and drinking, conscious dying techniques, and other choices at end-of-life.
(505) 660-1446
info@rightsofpassage.org
What We Do
From the first visit to the last, we give direct medical care as needed, including consultations, assessments, exams, treatments and prescriptions. We provide detailed anticipatory guidance to support your access to the kind of death you want to create.
Our first conversations with patients are centered around learning the patient’s values, wishes, fears and hopes. We work closely with the existing care team, including individuals and agencies.
We prescribe and administer any needed medications, and of course will attend deaths as desired. We also support families with the immediate aftercare of their loved one. For more information about patient care, see our frequently asked questions.
Rights of Passage also offers trainings for hospice organizations and health professionals.
Our Fees
Our affordable fees make this service available for New Mexicans of all income levels. Our work is supported by tax deductible donations from patients, their families, foundations and other generous donors.
Rights of Passage gratefully acknowledges the fiscal sponsorship of New Mexico Foundation (NMF). NMF is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in accordance with Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Who We Are
Both Spanish-speaking, Lynn Nauman, MD and Leah Becker, PA are similarly informed by their lifetime experiences of personal and professional joys and losses. In early 2023, we began dreaming together of a patient care model that provides widely available, highly personalized, and clinically skilled services to those approaching death. We stand on the shoulders of the attentive clinicians who have developed research-based best practices in this field, the advocates who have worked so hard to make all options available for all people, and those who have sought the right to self-direction.
Our Philosophy
All people have the right to choose their own path. As death approaches, we center our care around your values. We provide care regardless of economic resources. We are honored to support all choices.
Lynn Nauman, MD
Lynn Nauman is board certified in both emergency and hospice palliative medicine. Over the last 30 years, Dr. Nauman has seen precious lives born and precious lives die. Most of her career has been in the emergency department where the complications of life and death are present every day. This existential reality informs every part of her life. For Dr. Nauman, “It is a privilege to be a doctor. It is both breathtaking and heartbreaking.”
Dr. Nauman’s varied emergency department settings have included the Navajo reservation, a military facility in El Paso and rural communities, most recently Española in Rio Arriba County. After leaving the rigors of the emergency department, she is now dedicating her entire practice to hospice and palliative medicine. Self determination is a core value for Dr. Nauman. She encourages patients to be proactive in their decisions surrounding their end-of-life care. Dr Nauman is in awe of the intimacy and mystery of being with patients at this vulnerable time of death and dying.
Leah Becker, PA-C, SEP
Leah Becker first worked with the dying in the early 90s at The Hospice at Mission Hill in Boston, MA. This experience inspired her to embark on her PA training at the Yale School of Medicine, completed in 1997. Leah is comfortable working in the realms of conventional medicine, functional medicine, bio-identical hormones, as well as alternative and holistic approaches; she is also a Somatic Experiencing Trauma Therapy Provider, and an End-of-Life Doula. Through the prism of family practice, Leah has been honored to witness the broadest spectrum of health issues, expressed over years in the lives of individuals. Leah prioritizes educating patients to be able to choose the best health care decisions for themselves, and she delivers medical care from a trauma-informed perspective.
A core value for Leah is to help de-traumatize the dying process as much as possible for patients and their families. She feels that in a death-phobic culture, the last great gift an individual can give themselves is to allow the arc of their life to inform and enrich their death.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to use medical aid in dying?
Your first consultation with us is billed at $150 per hour, and usually takes no more than one hour. After that, you can continue to pay this hourly rate, or make a single payment that covers all our services going forward.
For more details and to see the single payment rate for your particular household income, please refer to our payment information page.
$150 is a lot for me. How can I make sure the consultation will only take an hour?
Great question. First, review the eligibility requirements outlined on the End of Life Options NM website to be sure you or your loved one is likely to be eligible. (Actually, comb through their entire website!)
During the consultation, if possible, have at least one other person present to take notes, listen for things that aren’t clear, and help you review information later.
Do you see patients outside of Santa Fe?
Absolutely! If distance is an obstacle, we can start with the consultation by video telemedicine. We always prefer to meet in person whenever possible.
What happens in consultations?
We meet with you and review your criteria for eligibility. We explain what happens on the day of death for folks who chose this approach, and we give our recommendations to help you achieve the death you want. If you are eligible, and you wish to proceed, you and two witnesses will review and sign some simple paperwork to complete your official Request to End My Life in a Peaceful Manner. This allows us to write your prescription.
Then what? How long do the next steps take?
Once we have your Request to End My Life in a Peaceful Manner signed and witnessed, we can immediately send in the prescription. Only compounding pharmacies can fill this prescription, and they are only open on weekdays. They are legally allowed to take 48 hours to fill the prescription (this can be waived if death is imminent or pain is unmanageable.) Depending on your location and which pharmacy is used, the prescription can often be delivered directly to your home. After that, it’s always your choice when or if to use the medication.
Who is with me when I take the medication?
What if I’m not eligible after the first consultation?
For folks who are not yet eligible for Medical Aid in Dying, we will counsel you on your legal options. You can also hire us to support your chosen plan of care going forward.
I have a question that you didn’t answer - what should I do?
If you have a general question about the NM law that allows Medical Aid in Dying, or you are looking for volunteer support through the process of figuring this out, please reach out to End of Life Options New Mexico. They can explain it all! If you have specific questions about Rights of Passage, just contact us.
In-Service Training for Colleagues
Rights of Passage is also available to provide an in-service training for your organization, and we will tailor our presentation to meet your staff’s particular needs. Our subject matter can include, but is not limited to:
The legal implications for our colleagues who make referrals
What hospice staff need to know about Medical Aid in Dying
How to bring a trauma informed perspective to the bedside
How does the NM law apply to your organization
Which patients are eligible for Medical Aid in Dying
How to care for the providers at your agency when a patient chooses Medical Aid in Dying
More Resources
These organizations provide excellent education on end-of-life choices and laws.
End of Life Options New Mexico
Compassion and Choices
American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying
ACAMAID educates clinicians about medical aid in dying, from clinical discussions to evidence-based knowledge, from nursing care to the work of volunteers at the bedside, from medical ethics to pharmacology, and more.
Death with Dignity
Contact Us
We warmly invite you to make a referral for a patient, or to contact us to discuss your own options at (505) 660-1446. You may also email us at:
