LIFE MATTERS MEDIA STAFF



Lawmakers in Maryland have introduced so-called “Death with Dignity” legislation to allow terminally ill adults the freedom to end their lives with doctor-prescribed drugs.

On Friday, dozens of area residents offered hours of testimony to the the Maryland General Assembly in support of the controversial bill, which was introduced by Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Democrat, and Del. Chris West, a Republican.

The “End of Life Option Act” would allow mentally competent adults with a life-expectancy of six months or less to self-administer life-ending drugs prescribed by a physician. Once a doctor writes a prescription, it would be up to the patient to fill it and take them.

Patients seeking to end their lives must be informed of alternatives such as hospice or palliative medicine; care aiming to provide pain and symptom management, not cure.

West said the bill was a matter of personal freedom and that a person should “have the right to control his or her own body” without government interference, The Baltimore Sun reports. He said when pain and fear intensify at the end of one’s life, a person should be able to “opt to die peacefully and painlessly.”

The fate of the bill is unclear. A similar measure was defeated last session, and a coalition including disability rights groups and the Roman Catholic Church oppose the bill. Debate on the bill begins in March.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in only a handful of states, including Washington, Oregon, Vermont and Montana. California Gov. Jerry Brown was the latest governor to sign a controversial “right-to-die” proposal into law in October.

Despite calls for legalization from a growing number of proponents and others who came to support physician-assisted suicide in the wake of the high-profile death of Brittany Maynard, the American Medical Association remains firmly opposed to such policy.

– Image of the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Md., courtesy WikiMedia Commons.