Delaware lawmakers made the first step on Wednesday to approve a bill that would let terminally ill patients end their own lives.
Nine members of a 15-person House committee approved the legislation by Rep. Paul Baumbach to go to a floor vote.
Proponents say the bill, which lets a terminally ill person request and self-administer a medication to die, would give the option to a small percentage of the population suffering unbearably at the end of their life. Some opponents worry that the bill could disproportionately affect people with disabilities or those with little access to health care, who could be coerced by their caretakers into dying.
The 12-page bill has several safeguards in an attempt to ensure only a small, specific population of terminally ill people have access to the life-ending medication that it sanctions.
For example, no one would be able to request the medication on behalf of someone else. The patient would have to have a prognosis of six months or less to live to qualify.
If the patient’s physician was unsure whether the patient was mentally capable of independently making the decision to end their own life, they would refer the patient to a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist.
Age and disability on their own would not qualify as a terminal illness and would not be eligible, according to the bill.
The physician would have to present alternative options, such as hospice care and pain control. Anyone who requests the medication could rescind the request at any time and could decide not to take the medication once they get it.
The patient would have to wait 15 days after the first spoken request and 48 hours after a written request before getting the medication. The physician would have to offer an opportunity to rescind the request.
A health care facility could prohibit physicians from prescribing the medication on its grounds.
Some refer to the practice as “physician-assisted suicide.” Those behind the legislation say that term is misleading, and prefer the term “medical aid in dying.” Proponents also refer to the policy as “right-to-die” or “death with dignity.”
Ten states and D.C. have passed similar laws, according to the nonprofit Compassion and Choices, which works to implement the legislation across the country.
In New Jersey, 33 terminally ill patients ended their lives in 2020, the first full year the state’s medical aid-in-dying law was in effect.
The bill needs 21 of the 41 House members’ vote to pass and head to the Senate.
“We don’t have 21 today, but we hope to get there in not too much time,” Baumbach said.
It’s the fourth bill of its kind that Baumbach, a Newark Democrat, has sponsored since 2015. So far, none have seen a floor vote. In the last session that ended in 2019, it didn’t make it out of committee.
LAST SESSION’S BILL FAILED:Physician-assisted suicide debate in Delaware
Despite being perennially controversial, it appears to be gaining support. Compared to having no co-sponsors on his 2015 bill, Baumbach’s latest bill has 11 co-sponsors including the two top-ranking lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Statehouse, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf and Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola.
So what changed? Baumbach thinks this one made it out of the 15-person House Health and Human Development Committee because the medical community is shifting its stance. The Medical Society of Delaware, for example, changed its stance from opposing to neutral, and other organizations such as the Delaware Nurses Association have offered support that they haven’t in the past, he said.
He also thinks that supporters have gotten better at telling the stories of people who have died with “unaddressable pain.”
“This is a critical issue because there is nothing more important to a person who is dying than how they die,” Baumbach said. “We are addressing fears with facts. … This is so personal, and it does involve matters of faith.”
Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com.
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