The ACLU of Connecticut is urging lawmakers to support a bill that would allow terminally ill people to work with a physician on hastening their death to avoid unnecessary suffering.
Stephen Glassman, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, said, “We protect the liberties of people both in how they choose to live, as well as to make informed decisions about their end of life care. Currently, terminally ill, mentally competent people and their families don’t have the range of options they need. That is simply not right.”
Currently five states allow their terminally ill residents to make a determination at the end of their lives about how much suffering to endure and when to hasten a peaceful death. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana and New Mexico now grant individuals that right. So far in 2015, at least 16 other states have introduced aid in dying legislation.
This bill ensures that aid in dying will be voluntary and permitted only for patients who are mentally competent and terminally ill, with a prognosis of no more than six months of life remaining. Patients must make two written requests, with a 15-day waiting period between them, for a prescription for aid in dying. Witnesses are required for those requests, and doctors must keep detailed records of the entire process. The bill mandates a second doctor’s opinion and provides for counseling and multiple opportunities to withdraw the request.
Glassman added, “We can’t quantify the peace of mind afforded everyone who obtained a prescription, whether they used it or not. We can’t know how many people were comforted merely by the knowledge that the option existed. But we can act to help the residents of our own state in the same way.”
March 18, 2015
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