Do You Support Medically-Assisted Suicide for the Terminally Ill?

What’s the story?

• New Jersey is poised to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives.
• On Monday, in a 21-16 vote, the New Jersey Senate approved the “Medical Aid in Dying of the Terminally Ill Act,” which New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy had promised to sign into law.

“Allowing terminally ill and dying residents the dignity to make end-of-life decisions according to their own consciences is the right thing to do,” Murphy said.

What’s in the bill?

The bill would require:

• A second opinion on the diagnosis to attest that the patient has less than six months to live.
• An approval from a psychologist or psychiatrist that the patient has the mental capacity to make the decision.
• Qualified terminally ill patients would be required to obtain medication that can be self-administered.

 What are people saying?

• The legislation was sponsored by Democratic state Sens. Nicholas Scutari, Richard Codey, and Steve Sweeney.

"This is a humane and dignified process that respects the free will of terminally ill patients," Scutari said. "We should permit qualified patients to make the decision to end their own lives in a dignified manner. There is no good reason for them to be forced to prolong their pain and suffering or to prolong the grief of their loved ones if they make that choice."

• But Stephen Goldfine, chief medical officer at Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice, believes lawmakers should hone in on providing better palliative care in the Garden State, instead of clearing the path for medically-assisted suicide.

“If we provide really high-level palliative care, which includes good symptom management, good social support, both from a physical perspective and emotional counseling, I do think that we can provide that level of comfort for all patients,” Goldfine said. “For a very high majority of patients, they don’t need to be asking to do medical-assisted aid in dying.” 

What do you think?

Do you think that medically assisted suicide should be legalized in more states? Should palliative care be improved before legalizing medically-assisted suicide? Take action and tell your reps, then share your opinions below.

—Veronica You

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / KatarzynaBialasiewicz)