WASHINGTON — Supporters of an “aid in dying” bill hope this is the year they get the measure passed in Maryland.
The bill would allow terminally ill patients to access a prescription to end their lives.
Donna Smith, the campaign director for Compassion and Choices in Maryland and D.C., said it’s wrong to call it assisted suicide.
“Suicide is when an otherwise healthy person who might be suffering from depression decides to take their life,” she said. The “aid in dying” bill is different, said Smith, because “the terminally ill patient is dying from a disease.”
Under the legislation, a patient would have to be suffering from a terminal disease with six months or less to live in order to be given the prescription. Smith said a primary and attending physician would have to sign off on the diagnosis. The patient would also have to be “mentally capable” and able to take the drug without assistance.
Similar measures have been proposed before and failed in the General Assembly.
“We feel we’re going to be successful this year because the composition of the committees has changed, and we now believe we have the votes to get it out of both committees,” said Smith.
The bill has 60 co-sponsors in the Maryland General Assembly, which gives Smith a feeling of optimism. The bill will go before the Senate Judiciary Proceedings Committee and the House Government Operations Committee.
Smith said she became involved in the issue after losing a dear friend to brain cancer. “She had very good doctors and they did all they could,” said Smith. “It was very painful to her to go through, and it was very painful for me to watch her go through it.”
D.C. passed an aid in dying bill in 2017. Seven other states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — have passed similar legislation.
The Maryland Catholic Conference has objected to such bills in the past.
