Maryland Medical-Aid-in-Dying Law Fails

Credit: huffpost.com

Last week, the Maryland Senate failed to pass proposed legislation to allow medical-aid-in-dying to become legal in that state. The measure passed the House in early March, and advocates were hopeful that there were enough votes in the Senate to send the bill to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk. But instead, the vote ended in a 23 to 23 tie, when Democratic Sen. Obie Patterson, who was present at the time, declined to cast a vote.

Patterson explained his actions this way, “I talked with folks, and my decision today was not to cast a vote, but I think I did my job. I did not relinquish my responsibility to thoroughly review all of the concerns I had about the bill, and at the end of the day, I just felt that I could not cast a vote.”

The measure’s defeat was a difficult blow for death with dignity advocates, who included former NPR broadcaster, Diane Rehm. Rehm had testified before the Maryland House in February to urge passage of the bill. She has been an outspoken supporter of medical-aid-in-dying since watching her beloved husband, John, die a slow, painful death in 2014. John suffered from end-stage Parkinson’s disease and wanted to end his own life. But because medical-aid-in-dying wasn’t available in his home state, he instead chose to refuse all food, fluids and medication to hasten his own death. It took him 10 days to die.

Kim Callahan
Credit:compassionandchoices.org

Kim Callahan, the CEO of Compassion & Choices, an organization that has been instrumental in advancing medical-aid-in-dying legislation across the United States, commented on the lawmaker’s decision, saying:

“This temporary setback in Maryland is deeply disappointing to our brave, seriously ill advocates,” Callinan said. “But we are confident that it is just a matter of time before a version of this legislation similar to the House-passed bill, which is based on proven laws in eight other jurisdictions, becomes law.”

New Jersey Victory

On a more positive note for aid-in-dying supporters, on March 25, the New Jersey legislature passed a measure to allow medical-aid-in-dying in that state. The close vote followed a hard-fought battle that split legislators along ideological rather than political lines. The language of the measure echoes that of laws in six other states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, Washington) and the District of Columbia. It allows competent adults who are believed, to a reasonable degree of certainty, to have less than six months to live to obtain a prescription for a drug to end their lives. The measure now goes to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who indicated in a statement that he would sign it 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.” I look forward to signing this legislation into law.”