Massachusetts could become the sixth state in the nation to guarantee citizens a right to die if a bill before the legislature becomes law.
Opponents of allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses include advocates for the handicapped and pro-life groups.
There are medical professionals on both sides of the issue - some in favor of allowing patients to take their own lives, and others, like Fitchburg family physician Mark Rollo, who argue that allowing suicide would negatively change how doctors approach end of life care. Rollo testified that only the most privileged patients would benefit from a legal choice.
"However, It is the poor, people of color, the dispossessed, the disabled, who will inexorably be stirred towards suicide," Rolo said.
Proponents call the measure a compassionate way for dying patients patients to end their lives with dignity instead of prolonging their suffering.
Rep. Louis Kafka's bill is a revamp of the language put before voters in 2012, which he says addresses many technical concerns medical groups had with the ballot measure.
Speaker Robert DeLeo, the gatekeeper for bills reaching the House floor for votes, told reporters yesterday he's unsure about the future of the bill.
"I think a lot will depend upon the evidence they hear tomorrow," DeLeo said Monday after meeting with Senate President Stan Rosenberg and Gov. Charlie Baker.
Rosenberg said the Senate hasn't had much in the way of discussions on the measure, but supports the idea of allowing terminally ill patients to legally take their own lives.
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