Santa Fe New Mexican Editorial: At the end of life, choices bring dignity, peace

Feb 11, 2021 Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act New Mexico

An excerpt from the Santa Fe New Mexican editorial, “At the end of life, choices bring dignity, peace,” published February 11, 2021:

 
"There are few pieces of legislation in the 2021 legislative session more worthy of passage and the governor’s signature than the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act.

Though death is a certainty for all of us, a bill in the House of Representatives that would provide the terminally ill with the opportunity to go through it with dignity has long conflicted legislators. It shouldn’t. As much as anything, the measure is about freedom — the ability for the terminally ill to make an educated, rational decision about how life should end...

The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, D-Albuquerque, recently told legislators about the bone cancer that ravaged her mother, leaving her in such pain that she begged her daughter to help end her life.

'It was at that moment that I realized that medical aid in dying is not about philosophy, it’s not about religion — it’s about autonomy, compassion and the ability to live one’s life and end one’s life in a way that they choose,' she told the Health and Human Services Committee.

It is a powerful statement to ponder. And if life portends options and freedoms, it only makes sense that New Mexicans have the same ability when considering death."

Read more at SantaFeNewMexican.com.