Editorial boards at the following newspapers have endorsed the legislation: Newark Star Ledger, Times of Trenton, Asbury Park Press, Daily Record (Morris County), South Jersey Times, Press of Atlantic City. All agree it strikes the right balance between protecting individual liberty and safeguarding vulnerable groups.
For example, The Newark Star Ledger’s editors have opined in support of the bill three times, most recently saying: “The right to die is an intensely personal decision that, where permitted, has been used sparingly and appropriately. With rules that protect a patient’s free will — which Burzichelli’s legislation provides — there’s nothing to fear from giving patients a final measure of self-determination.”
The Times of Trenton endorsed the bill in August 2014 under the headline, “Death With Dignity for the Terminally Ill proposal includes crucial safeguards,” writing: “It’s a bulky process, and it should be. Those checks and balances help guarantee that choices are being made in sober consultation with doctors, and that they’re verified by witnesses … [A]s medical science allows people to live longer, there are steps a compassionate society can and must take when longer doesn’t mean better.”
The Asbury Park Press editorial board wrote, “Ultimately, the question before all of us is this: ‘What right should government have to dictate to people of sound mind who are slowly and painfully dying the terms of their death and to bar them from seeking a doctor’s aid in making a personal medical decision?’”
