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Proposed legislation that would allow terminally ill adults to end their lives with a lethal dose of prescription medication will get a public hearing Tuesday before the House Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees. Read more

Proposed legislation that would allow terminally ill adults to end their lives with a lethal dose of prescription medication will get a public hearing Tuesday before the House Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees.

House Bill 2739, dubbed the Our Care, Our Choice Act, states: “The Legislature concludes that adult, terminally ill residents of the state should have the fundamental right to determine their own medical treatment as they near the end of life, including the right to choose to avoid an unnecessarily prolonged life of pain and suffering.”

The joint committee hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the state Capitol auditorium.

Legalizing medically assisted death has been a divisive issue in Hawaii. During the 2017 legislative session, a bill that was a top priority for the Democratic Party passed out of the Senate but was later tabled by the House Health Committee. The measure was strongly opposed by religious groups and advocates for the disabled.

Under the procedures set out in the current bill, patients with less than six months to live would have to submit two verbal requests a minimum of 15 days apart and one written request for a lethal prescription to the physician or advanced practice registered nurse who is providing their care.

The written request would need to be signed and dated by the patient and at least two witnesses who can attest the patient is of sound mind, is acting voluntarily and is not being coerced. A patient would have the right to rescind a request at any time and in any manner, regardless of their mental state.

The bill also calls for criminal penalties for tampering with a patient’s request for a lethal prescription or coercing a patient to request such a prescription.

“This issue is a matter of providing people with a choice, and everyone should be able to make this decision for themselves,” Judiciary Chairman Scott Nishimoto (D, McCully-Moiliili-Kapahulu) said in a statement. “For people who decide they want this option, there will be proper safeguards in place to protect everyone involved and prevent any possible abuse.”

Rep. John Mizuno (D-Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley), chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, said in a statement that such a difficult issue requires the public to decide whether “a person of sound mind who is suffering from a terminal illness while in excruciating pain has the freedom and right to choice regarding his or her own body.”