Melissa Stacy, northeast regional advocacy director for Compassion & Choices Action Network, urged Massachusetts lawmakers to pass the End of Life Options Act (S1486/H2505) at a hearing at the Gardner Auditorium Wednesday. The legislation gives terminally ill patients the option to alleviate unbearable suffering at the end of life.
“I’d like to thank the committee chairs for scheduling a hearing on these bills so early this session, and thank the committee for voting the bill out favorably last session,” Stacy said. “This legislation includes strict eligibility criteria and practice requirements to ensure the highest standard of care. The legislation is optional for all involved – patients and providers alike. Eleven U.S. jurisdictions have authorized this end of life care option, and the data from those states show that the process and safeguards work.”
The legislation would allow a mentally capable, terminally ill adult the option to request and self-ingest prescription medication to peacefully end their suffering if it becomes unbearable. The bill includes strict eligibility requirements and more than a dozen safeguards that would make it the most comprehensive and strictest law in the country, including a requirement that two healthcare providers certify that a patient has a prognosis of six months or less to live, and makes it a crime to coerce a terminally ill person into using medical aid in dying.
Advocates across Massachusetts spoke in support of the legislation, many sharing deeply personal stories.
JoAnn Vizziello of Wenham, MA, who is living with terminal blood cancer, said, “I am not making a choice to die. The cancer is making that choice for me.” Vizziello continued, “We want to stay alive. What we don’t want is to be in pain.”
Beacon Hill resident Becky Gladstone shared that her husband, Doug, was diagnosed with Glioblastoma – a terminal brain cancer – in July of 2024. Becky stated, “Glioblastoma is a monster of a cancer. Individuals like Doug have a poor prognosis and a poor quality of life as the disease progresses.” Gladstone continued, “He signed onto palliative care months ago, and it’s extremely helpful in this process. He wants to live. He wants to see his grandchildren. But he also knows he wants to die with dignity.”
“Just as people have individual choices and paths throughout their lives, they also have individual needs in their end of life,” said JM Sorrell of Hadenville, MA. “I have seen too many people die through increased suffering rather than an increased quality of life for the time they have.”
“I’ve seen members of my community pass from life serenely, and I’ve watched them endure suffering that none of us would wish for ourselves or anyone we love,” said Rabbi Elias Lieberman of Falmouth. “I’ve had conversations with congregants in which they spoke of their desire for the option of a gentle death as provided for in this legislation.”
“This bill has more clear and protective conditions than any other similar bill in the country,” said Michael Martignetti, a Lexington resident living with Friedreich’s ataxia. “It’s common sense not to suffer needlessly at the end of life – please push our bill forward to a vote this year.”
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