A bill authored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley) that would allow terminally ill patients to obtain aid in ending their lives featured prominently in a Senate District 46 town hall meeting.
Constituents brought a variety of concerns to the legislators, who also provided an overview of their own bills at the March 12 event at St. Louis Park City Hall. But Hopkins resident Françoise Shirley led off public input by advocating for the Minnesota End-of-Life Option Act.
“It couldn’t mean more to me because of my family’s own very painful and traumatic journey,” Shirley said. “My mom passed away from cancer two years ago, and like so many others suffered greatly for an extended period of time.”
Shirley’s mother had advocated for such a bill even before she became ill, she said.
“I am here because my mother can’t be, and I am also speaking on behalf of many terminally ill Minnesotans who need and want this to pass, who want a voice and a choice, who want bodily autonomy, who need peace of mind, who wants to die on their own terms, who deserve dignity,” said Shirley, who wrote about her family’s experience at compassionandchoices.org.
Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) responded that the bill, also called the Compassionate Care Act, would require that a patient have a illness that two doctors certify as terminal. The legislation requires a prognosis of six months or less left in the person’s expected life. The person would have to be at least 18 years old and be deemed mentally capable. The legislation would allow a doctor to prescribe lethal medication that the person would have to personally take.
“It really does give that peace of mind, like you’re saying, and it has to be self-administered,” Youakim said to Shirley. “So, this isn’t a doctor doing it. It’s yourself doing it. And I know there’s people that want it to go farther and there’s people that don’t want it at all.”
She noted that she became an early co-signer of the bill. With more legislators now signed on, Youakim said she is “really hoping it finally gets across the finish line.”
Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) added, “It seems to me it has a lot more legislators this year [supporting the bill] than it’s ever had in the past. It was more of an isolated idea floating out there with a lot of opposition in the past, and I think we may be past that point.”
He acknowledged the bill still faces objections from legislators who object to it for religious or moral reasons.
“For me, it’s really a matter of personal autonomy,” Latz said. “People deserve the right to decide how they will die if they have the opportunity to make that decision, and I will support that.”
Rep. Larry Kraft (DFL-St. Louis Park) said he received a text earlier the day of the town hall from lead author Freiberg asking if he would be comfortable voting for the bill.
“My response was ‘hell yes,’” Kraft said.
Republicans have opposed the bill. For example, Rep. Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids) accused Democrats of “a culture of death” in a statement on the legislation.
“Rather than providing treatment and care for the vulnerable, terminally ill, depressed, and frail, they propose a sanitized ‘medical aid in dying’ approach that just masks a hidden agenda to undermine a person’s right to life,” said Utke, who is the lead Republican on the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “A person’s right to life does not depend on their quality of life, mental health, or income. This bill is an extremely dangerous policy that will pit Minnesotans against one another and divide families facing challenging situations.”
The bill found support at the Senate District 46 legislative forum from St. Louis Park resident Dr. Stuart Hanson, a retired Park Nicollet pulmonary and critical care physician who has written a book called “A Senior’s Guide for Living Well, and Dying Well.”
In support of the bill, Hanson said, “I just hope the Legislature can bring us up to date with some of the other progressive states that have already passed this.”
He also called for a state registry “for people who wish not to be resuscitated so that we can identify those wherever they drop.”
Such a registry would allow a hospital in Willmar to know a St. Louis Park resident’s wishes if the person had a heart attack there, he said as an example.
Hanson added, “I hate to bring up the issue of expense, but we spend a lot of money doing medical interventions that aren’t useful for people. In fact, some of it, they don’t want.”
Youakim said she would look into the suggestion but would need to consider doctor liability if a request is not followed.
“Nobody would have to do this, but if they felt that they want to limit their treatment, it would be very valuable, and it would be very accessible,” Hanson said. “That’s the issue that right now – I don’t see it as accessible.”
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