BOSTON — A proposal that would authorize physicians to administer lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients is advancing on Beacon Hill after winning support from two key legislative committees.
Both the Legislature’s Public Health and Health Care Financing committees have approved the bills with a recommendation that they ought to pass, sending the measures to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for consideration.
Advocates praised the vote to advance the bills, noting that it was the first time that the Health Care Financing committee approved the proposal.
Melissa Stacy, Northeast campaign director for the group Compassion & Choices Action Network, called it a “historic movement to help alleviate unbearable suffering for terminally ill patients.”
More than 80 lawmakers have signed the proposals filed by Rep. Jim O’Day, D-West Boylston, and Sen. Joanne Comerford, D-Northampton. The bills would allow terminally ill patients to be prescribed a lethal dose of medication to end their lives.
The proposals would require patients to make two verbal requests for a doctor’s intervention at least 15 days apart, as well as a written request signed by two witnesses. A physician would need to certify that the patient seeking access to lethal medicine is suffering from an incurable, irreversible condition.
But the measures still face a tough slog on Beacon Hill, where perennial medical-aid-in-dying proposals have failed to win final approval despite increasing support and emotional testimony from terminally ill patients who pack hearings to tell their stories.
If the Senate approves the legislation, it would still need to go before the House of Representatives before landing on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for review.
In 2012, Massachusetts voters rejected a ballot question that would have allowed the terminally ill to end their lives with medication prescribed by physicians. The referendum was narrowly defeated, with 51% voting against it.
But a March poll by Beacon Research found more than 73% of Massachusetts residents believe doctors should be allowed to end a patient’s life by painless means.
Critics of medical aid in dying laws, including medical and religious groups and advocates for those with disabilities, say misdiagnoses are common. They urged lawmakers not to approve the practice.
Terminally ill patients suffer from depression, they noted, and may irrationally decide to end their lives.
Others argue that legalizing physician-assisted suicide would encourage suicide among those suffering from depression and other mental health issues.
Lawmakers who support proposals to authorize the procedure say it would include safeguards to prevent abuse and rules to keep doctors from prescribing lethal drugs to those with mental health issues or impaired judgment.
Proponents of the practice got a boost in 2017 when the Massachusetts Medical Society dropped its longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1997 left the issue largely up to states. Thirty-seven states have since banned the practice, either at the ballot box or by legislative act.
But at least eight states, including Vermont and Maine, have approved medical aid in dying laws, according to the advocacy group Death with Dignity.
In December, the state Supreme Judicial Court upheld a Massachusetts law allowing state prosecutors to charge doctors for prescribing life-ending medication to terminally ill patients.
Justices rejected claims in a lawsuit that the prosecution of physicians who provide lethal medication to mentally competent, terminally ill adults is unconstitutional.
The high court didn’t rule on the constitutionality of medical aid in dying laws, saying the issue is best left to the “democratic process where the resolution can be informed by robust public debate and thoughtful research by experts in the field.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.