This week, Delaware lawmakers stopped a bill that would legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in the state. According to the Delaware Online, Rep. Paul Baumbach (D-Newark) asked legislators on the House Health & Human Development Committee to keep the bill in committee.
He said, “We knew when we filed the bill that we did not yet have a critical mass of support, but what we also knew was that the bill and the issue needs to be heard. I’m hopeful that we will continue to learn about this issue and see whether, and how we wish to proceed.”
The bill didn’t have support from the Delaware Legislature but Rep. Baumback plans to introduce a bill that would allow a task force to explore more about end of life care. He explained, “Hopefully we’ll over the next six months we’ll have public meetings to learn more and hear more from each other and find best practices across the country.”
As LifeNews previously reported, Delaware is one of a handful of states that have introduced assisted suicide legislation in 2015. Unfortunately, the legislation is similar to Oregon’s assisted suicide provision, which has seen a good share of abuse and problems since it took effect in 1998.
For example, in Oregon, depressed people have died by assisted suicide, and patients, who were denied medical treatment, were steered to assisted suicide by the state health plan. Oregon resident Jeanette Hall, who was terminally ill and wanted assisted suicide, is alive today because her doctor convinced her to try medical treatment.
In 2014, terminally ill cancer patient, Brittany Maynard, became the face of the assisted suicide movement in the United States. Brittany had stage IV glioblastoma multiforme, which is the most deadly form of brain cancer and was given six-months to live. After her diagnosis, Brittany decided to move from her California home to Oregon so she could have access to lethal drugs to use to take her life. Then, on November 2nd, Brittany legally ended her own life with a lethal dose of Phenobarbital.
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Thankfully, a new Marist poll shows that the majority of Americans do not support assisted suicide legislation. The poll was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and revealed that more than 61% of our citizens believe that a doctor should pursue other avenues to help terminal patients rather than prescribing or administering lethal drugs.
