By SUSAN HAIGH
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn.
(AP) -- A push for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide is
under way in a half-dozen states where proponents say they see strong
support for allowing doctors to prescribe mentally competent, dying
individuals with the medications needed to end their own lives.
The
large number of baby boomers facing end-of-life issues themselves is
seen to have made the issue more prominent in recent years. Groups such
as Compassion & Choices, a national end-of-life advocacy
organization, have been working to advance the cause.
Advocates
received a boost from last year's ballot question in Massachusetts on
whether to allow physicians to help the terminally ill die. Although the
vote failed, it helped to spark a national discussion, said Mickey
MacIntyre, chief program officer for Compassion & Choices.
"The
Massachusetts initiative lifted the consciousness of the nation and in
particular the Northeast region to this issue that there are other
alternatives patients and their families should have an opportunity to
access," MacIntyre said.
Bills legalizing
assisted suicide are being considered in Connecticut, Vermont, New
Jersey, Kansas and Hawaii - and in Massachusetts, where proponents
decided to resume their efforts after the public vote, according to the
National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks legislative
trends. There are also bills related to the issue under consideration in
New Hampshire, New York, Arizona and Montana.
In
Connecticut, which has banned the practice since 1969, a group of
lawmakers said Tuesday that the legislature's first public hearing on
the subject would probably be held this month. At least two bills on the
issue have so far been proposed in this year's session of the
Connecticut legislature.
If the General Assembly votes to legalize the practice, it would be the first state legislature to do so.
Oregon
and Washington have passed right-to-die laws, but they did so through
voter referendums. Montana's Supreme Court has ruled that the practice
of physicians helping terminally ill patients could be considered part
of medical treatments. 34 states prohibit assisted suicide
outright. Seven others, including Massachusetts, banned it through legal
precedent.
Opponents claim the initiatives in Connecticut are being pushed only by outside groups like Compassion & Choices.
"There's
no grass-roots cry for assisted suicide in the state of Connecticut,"
said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the socially conservative
Family Institute. "This is mostly an out-of-state organization that has
targeted the state of Connecticut. They look at the Northeast and think
this is low-hanging fruit: `We can conduct our social experiments here
in the Northeastern United States.'"
In fact,
one bill has been filed in Connecticut this year that would establish a
mandatory minimum prison term for someone charged with second-degree
manslaughter after assisting another person with committing suicide.
A
measure dubbed "end of life choices" recently sped through the Vermont
Senate Health and Welfare Committee but is expected to face a bumpier
ride in the Judiciary Committee. In New Jersey, a bill that would allow
doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication for terminally ill
patients wishing to take their own lives cleared an Assembly committee
Thursday. That legislation would ultimately be subject to voter
approval.
Last November, voters in
Massachusetts narrowly defeated a measure legalizing physician-assisted
suicide for the terminally ill. Supporters of the concept said they
hoped the debate would continue and marked the beginning of a
conversation to improve end-of-life care.
In
Connecticut, Dr. Gary Blick, a Norwalk physician who specializes in
treating patients with HIV and AIDS, said he believes the time is right
for state lawmakers to push ahead with this issue. In 2009, he and Dr.
Ron Levine, of Greenwich, along with end-of-life advocates, sued to seek
a clarification of the state's decades-old ban on assisted suicide,
citing concerns about Connecticut doctors being prosecuted for giving
medications to their dying patients.
A judge ultimately dismissed the suit, saying it was a matter for the legislature to decide.
The
1969 Connecticut law states that a person who "intentionally causes or
aids another person, other than by force, duress or deception, to commit
suicide" is guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
Blick said not all dying patients will want the ability to take their own life, but he said they should be given the choice.
"This
is not for everybody. We do realize there are people that do not
believe in this for religious beliefs, and I respect that. There are no
issues over that," he said. "But there are those subsets of people that
do not want to go through the suffering that they have to go through."
Cathy
Ludlum, of Manchester, a disabled-rights activist who has spinal
muscular atrophy, said she is concerned the Public Health Committee has
decided to hold the public hearing and worries the issue of
doctor-assisted suicide will not go away soon.
"Until
people are really educated about the issues, it's going to keep coming
up, even if it's defeated this time," she said, adding how she wants
lawmakers to focus more on "giving people a good life than giving people
a good death."
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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press modified.
