Lawmakers weigh bill to allow doctor-assisted suicide

[unhappycamper]

http://www.wcvb.com/politics/lawmakers-weigh-bill-to-allow-doctor-assisted-suicide/36059618



Bill would require patient to self-administer drug to end their life

Lawmakers weigh bill to allow doctor-assisted suicide
UPDATED 8:01 PM EDT Oct 26, 2015

BOSTON —Legislation that would let doctors prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients is heading to a public hearing on Beacon Hill.

The bill would require that the patient have a terminal illness or condition that can reasonably be expected to cause death within six months. The patient must self-administer the drugs.

The legislation would also require that before prescribing the drugs, the doctor must inform the patient about the diagnosis, prognosis, risks associated with taking the medication and other treatment options, including palliative care.

The request must be made in writing and be witnessed by two people, as least one of whom isn't a relative of the patient or someone who would be entitled to any part of the patient's estate.

[newfie11]

1. This should be between patient and Doctor only

Or in case of patient unresponsive, between family and Doctor.

[Paper Roses]

2. I support this 100% .We need to control the end of our lives.

As we reach the end on our time on this earth, the decision to end our lives should be our decision. A terminal illness only prolongs our agony and enriches the coffers of the care providers. I don't want my family to be stuck in a situation where my few assets go to a nursing home or hospice. After any assets I have are liquidated to pay for my final care at a hospice facility, Medicare would take anything that may be left. What is the point?. Through the years my late husband and I worked to build up a little to leave to our children. I want to leave my simple assets to them. I certainly don't want to hang around in a state where there is no longer any quality of life.

There is no way I would agree to being plugged in to a machine that would keep my heart beating during a time when I am surely going to die. I don't want my local nursing home to profit from my spending weeks or months as a dying resident.
I want the option of saying that it is time for me to go. Whatever assets I may have should go to my children, not some end-of-life
care facility.

I saw several members of my family go through a prolonged terminal illness. I know that each of them would have said that it is time. Let me go!

[unhappycamper]

3. Gov. Charlie Baker won’t support rep’s right-to-die legislation

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_politics/2015/10/gov_charlie_baker_won_t_support_rep_s_right_to_die_legislation

Gov. Charlie Baker won’t support rep’s right-to-die legislation
Matt Stout Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Gov. Charlie Baker is throwing up a roadblock to a so-called right-to-die bill, saying yesterday he stands with voters who narrowly voted down a 2012 ballot question that would have legalized euthanasia.

Baker couched his early opposition to assisted-dying legislation by saying the “details really matter,” pointing to a Beacon Hill hearing today when a bill is set to be debated before the Joint Committee on Public Health.

But the failed 2012 “death with dignity” ballot question — shot down by a margin of fewer than 63,000 votes — matters, the Swampscott Republican said.

“I do take my lead a bit from the fact that the voters of the commonwealth had an opportunity to consider this and voted it down. I’m going to start with them,” Baker told reporters.