Massachusetts Health Committee Approves End of Life Options Bill for 1st Time since 2011 Introduction
Jun 1, 2020 Kim Callinan author
This is an excerpt from the June 1, 2020 edition of the India New England News. Read the full article.
BOSTON–Massachusetts supporters of legislation that would authorize medical aid in dying as an end-of-life care option urged state lawmakers to pass the bill after the Joint Committee on Public Health approved it late Friday afternoon for the first time since it was originally introduced by Rep. Louis L. Kafka in 2011.
More than seven out of 10 Massachusetts voters (71%) support medical aid in dying, according to the most recent poll on the issue in 2013 by Purple Insights.
The bill, the Massachusetts End of Life Options Act (H.1926/S.1208), would give mentally capable, terminally ill individuals with a prognosis of six months or less to live the option to request, obtain and self-ingest medication to die peacefully in their sleep if their suffering becomes unbearable. The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Louis L. Kafka and Senator William N. Brownsberger and has 69 total sponsors, including Joint Committee on Public Health co-chair, Senator Joanne M. Comerford.
