Supporters of aid in dying bill hope success is near after years of trying

BOSTON ― The medical aid in dying bill, voted out of initial committees by both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature, is about ensuring that people suffering from painful, terminal conditions do not have a bad death.

That’s according to Dr. Roger Kligler, a retired medical practitioner who was diagnosed with incurable stage 4 prostate cancer.

“I want to die in my sleep,” Kligler, of Falmouth told advocates, supporters and legislative staff attending a briefing in the State House on Wednesday. “I want the autonomy to make the decision, in consultation with my doctor and my family.”

His mother, Kligler said, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, died “screaming in pain. As a kind society, the dying deserve the option to limit their suffering.”

For JoAnn Vizziello, a Wenham woman, her terminal diagnosis with blood cancer seven years ago has opened the door to spirituality and a relationship with a higher being. While her first act was to research ways to prolong her life and measures to prepare for her death, including the purchase of a cemetery plot and writing her own obit, her subsequent focus came to rest on her inner life.

“Do I believe in God?” Vizziello said she asked herself. She has come to accept her mortality, but she knows she does not want to suffer. “The choice to end my life is not mine. Cancer is doing that for me.”

But she would welcome the choice to alleviate her suffering.

The bill, which would allow certain terminally ill patients to end their lives with a doctor's prescription, is in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. It has received favorable reports from the Joint Committees on Public Health and Health Care Financing.

While the sponsors, Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep. James O'Day, D-West Boylston, indicate they have extensive support, with 67 in the House and 18 in the Senate,, they cannot say for certain that it will be brought forward for a vote.

Gov. Maura Healey has indicated that she supports the bill.

It was first filed in 2008 and has been rewritten numerous times to ensure guardrails were included to prevent abuse. Requirements include that requests can only come from a terminally ill patient, who is a Massachusetts resident, diagnosed with less than six months to live. Requests for medication must be both spoken and in writing, and the patient must be sentient and capable of making their own medical decisions.

In addition, the life-ending medication must be self-ingested.

Other requirements include:

• Evaluation of the patient by two physicians
• A mental health evaluation
• Multiple opportunities to rescind the request for medication
• A 15-day waiting period
• Participating by writing a prescription is optional for all medical professionals

Oregon was the first state to enact laws pertaining to medical aid in dying, in 1997. In the 26 years since it was first enacted, advocates said, there hasn’t been a single case of abuse or coercion that resulted in criminal charges. In total, 10 states and Washington, D.C., allow for medical aid in dying.

In Massachusetts, the question was put to voters in a 2012 initiative, which failed 48% to 46%, with 6% of voters levin the question blank.

What do the bill's opponents say?

Second Thoughts MA , which describes itself as a grassroots group of disability rights advocates, lays claim on its website to helping defeat the ballot question in 2012. The group opposes describes legalization of assisted suicide as a "deadly form of discrimination against disabled people. We demand social justice against laws, policies, and media messages fueled by a 'better dead than disabled' mindset."

Advocates from the Massachusetts Family Institute have also participated in legislative bill hearings, voicing their strong opposition to the measure.

Sam Whiting, the staff attorney at Massachusetts Family Institute, said the organization feared that enacting the bill will result in pressure on society's most vulnerable – the elderly, the sick, and the disabled – to end their lives.

"People often opt for assisted suicide because they lose hope," Whiting said, advocating as well for better mental health care and bringing faith back into the picture. "We're living in an era when people feel hopeless. It's more than a medical issue; its spiritual and emotional."

The Catholic Church opposes the measures for religious reasons.

"The Catholic Church has very strong feelings; life is precious from conception to natural death," said James Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference; representing all four of the state's dioceses: Boston, Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. But, he said, the concerns transcend the church's moral teachings and include the fallibility of the medical profession and its ability to diagnose the exact time a terminally ill patient will die.

"We hear all the time from people whose mothers, fathers, a loved one, they themselves, lived more than the six months; we never know when it is our time," Driscoll said. In addition, he said the law would pose a danger to those who are frail and may be easily swayed, and could allow those who may obtain financial gain from a death to exert undue influence.

Has support for aid in dying legislation grown in Mass.?

Advocates with Compassion and Choices , which supports the legislation, and other organizations cited new statistics that reflect an increase in support. They claim that 79% of polled voters believe medical aid in dying should be an option available to the terminally ill, including 76% of those who identified as Catholic.

“This is a nonpartisan issue,” said Melissa Stacy of Compassion and Choices.

The motivation for filing the bill, O’Day told the advocates on Wednesday, came from personal experience.

“My dad was a Worcester cop, he retired as a sergeant,” O’Day said, describing the relationship he shared with the older man, the fun they had and their deep conversations. “One of the serious ones was about what would happen at the end of his life. He was a tough guy, but he knew he didn’t want to suffer.”

The veteran lawmaker said that his father made it clear that he expected his son to step up and provide the pillow over his face, or life-ending medication if he was suffering.

“He expected me to not let him suffer,” O’Day said. “I watched him die a horrible, horrible death. He would look at me, and I knew he was asking, ‘When are you going to give me the pillow, buddy?’ He suffered in death terribly.”

With reports from State House News Service.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Supporters of aid in dying bill hope success is near after years of trying