Debi Cirasole has brain cancer. At 38 years old, she has undergone two brain surgeries and one spinal surgery. She told a Maryland Senate panel Friday that she is in constant pain.
Cirasole, of Severn, Maryland, told state lawmakers in Annapolis that she supports a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with a fatal dose of drugs prescribed by a doctor.
Speaking in favor of the Senate’s end-of-life option bill, Cirasole said, “While I respect the opinion of the people who are here in opposition, I do not feel that it is their right to choose for me. This is something that should be between me and my doctor.”
Longtime Democratic activist Terry Lierman also testified in favor of the bill. Lierman told the panel about his wife of six months, Caroline Paff.
“I saw her suffer with five different types of cancer. The most painful kinds there are. And, for many, many weeks, she begged that she could die,” he said.
Paff died in November, and Lierman explained why he was there to testify: “Bringing this bill forward is something that will alleviate so much pain for so many people.”
Baltimore Rabbi David Rose, who said he serves as a chaplain at a hospice, opposes the bill.
“The expertise and compassion of a hospice team can provide relief from almost all forms of pain at the end of life,” Rose said. “And, I must add, that predicting how much time a person has left is a terribly inexact science. Patients of mine who were supposed to have weeks left to live are still going strong two years later.”
The bill applies to patients who have been diagnosed as terminal, with six months or less to live.
The patient would have to ask for the end-of-life option on three different occasions, and one request would have to be in writing with a witness present. And, the patient would have to be able to administer the fatal dose of medication by themselves, without any assistance.
The bill being considered has failed in the Maryland General Assembly, most recently last year.
Republican Sen. Justin Ready, whose district includes Carroll County, expressed some frustration with the bill being presented to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
“I don’t support the bill, and I’m pretty clear about that,” Ready said. Referring to the lengthy debates of the past, he added, “I feel like we spent a lot of time trying to make the bill better.”
Ready told the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher, D-Montgomery County, some of the previous amendments should have been included in the bill being presented in this session.
A similar bill has been submitted in the House of Delegates.
Nine states and D.C. have approved what supporters call “medical aid in dying” measures.
