Good news – for now – in Maryland. According to the Baltimore Sun:
Hope ended Wednesday for those who wanted Maryland to pass a “death with dignity” law this year.
Leaders of two key committees considering a bill that would have allowed doctors to prescribe medicine to help terminally ill patients end their lives decided not to vote on the proposal, effectively killing it.
But it’s highly likely the bill will be resurrected/reincarnated:
The move ends an emotional debate in the General Assembly — for now. House and Senate leaders plan to convene a work group that will present another proposal in January. That spares the legislature a complex floor debate in the waning days of the session this year.
NDY Board member Sam Crane is quoted in the article:
“We are absolutely delighted that the committees realized that this bill would not work for Marylanders,” said Sam Crane, director of public policy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and a member of the MD Coalition Against Physician Assisted Suicide.
Crane’s group, religious organizations, mental health groups and disability advocates had argued that the bill would sanction death for people who relied on others to care for them and could put some the state’s most vulnerable populations at risk.
Sam was one of many disability advocates/activists who testified against the bill, including Crosby King for Not Dead Yet and and Richard Davis, on behalf of the Arc of Maryland.
Next week, there will be hearings in California and Rhode Island on similar bills. So far, we know that Emily Titon plans to testify in the Rhode Island hearing and Marilyn Golden plans to testify in California. Marilyn Golden testified before the Senate Health Committee in March – her testimony can be read here.
I think you meant Rhode Island for me, not New Jersey! 🙂 But otherwise, yes, and very good news from MD!
Emily – sorry. Not sure how I did that, but it’s fixed now. 🙂 Thanks for all your work on so many disability rights battles.
We are anticipating Connecticut’s assisted suicide bill, HB 7015, will die in committee next Monday, the Judiciary Committee’s joint favorable deadline. Compassion & Choices has never had a good public hearing in Connecticut, but they have never had as bad a hearing for their side as they did on March 18. When the co-chair of the Judiciary Committee told Cathy Ludlum she had a bright career ahead of her as a high-powered lobbyist, we knew we were off to a very good hearing. Here is the video to the Connecticut hearing: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ctnplayer.asp?odID=11321 Cathy Ludlum is up first with Craig Henrici of the Office of Protection and Advocacy at 12:00, followed by Maggie Karner with her state senator, and then Professor Stephen Mikochik, while I am just past 4:43:00 through just past 5:07:00. Friendly legislators asked questions to give several of us significantly more time than the normally allotted three minutes.
Also from Connecticut is this video of a forum on end of life issues at West Hartford Town Hall I participated in, along with Tim Appleton of Compassion & Choices, Stephen Latham of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and Dianne Welch of Visiting Nurses & Health Services of Connecticut: http://whctv.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5487%3Aleague-of-women-voters-of-greater-hartford-end-of-life-decisions-issues-challenges-and-options&catid=196&Itemid=116 My segment begins at 18:00, with a question and answer format the second hour.