I write to add my voice to those in support of the Death with Dignity bill in the state Legislature.
I also appreciate that the Recorder, and papers in Northampton and Pittsfield, have written editorials calling for passage of this bill. The bill is called ‘The End of Life Options Act’ (H1194). It would give citizens the choice – if they were diagnosed by two different doctors as terminally ill, and facing severe pain that could not be alleviated – to end their lives in a peaceful, humane way by taking a medication prescribed by their doctor.
The proposed law is based on ones that six other states and Washington, D.C., have already passed. And, in the over 40 cumulative years that these laws have been active, there has not been one instance of abuse or coercion reported in the annual evaluations mandated by their states’ or district’s public health departments.
The bill is in the Public Health Committee, which has until March 7 to pass it so that the full Legislature can debate and vote on it, and hopefully pass it. If the committee votes no, the bill dies until next year, when it can be re-introduced. I support this bill because it endorses individual human dignity and allows each of us some measure of control over an absolutely critical portion of our lives; and death is, after all, intensely personal.
So, I urge my fellow citizens to contact the co-chairs of the Public Health Committee and urge that they vote the bill out of committee and into the full legislature: Sen. Jason Lewis (jason.lewis@masenate.gov, 617-722-1206) and Rep. Kate Hogan (kate.hogan@mahouse.gov, 617-722-2130).
And please share this information with family, friends and co-workers throughout the commonwealth.
Peter Stevens
Shelburne