Bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide approved by Delaware lawmakers
DOVER, Del. — A bill that allows this physician-assisted suicide in Delaware won final passage in the Senate on Tuesday after failing to clear that chamber last week.
The measure, which now goes to Democratic Gov. John Carney, received an 11-10 vote after the Democratic-led Senate voted by the same margin to reconsider the legislation and rescind last week’s vote.
Senator Kyra Hoffner, a Smyrna County Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, cast the deciding vote. On Thursday, after some fellow Democrats spoke passionately against the bill, she tearfully refused to vote on it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t vote the way I wanted to on Thursday,” Hoffner said Tuesday, adding that she had time to reflect and talk to both supporters and opponents of the bill over the weekend. “It was a very emotional weekend for me.”
Lawmakers continued to express strong feelings for and against the bill during Tuesday’s debate.
“How more despicable can we become?” asked GOP Sen. David Lawson of Marydel.
Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn said assisted suicide suggests “some lives are less worth living” and is not supported by any major medical organization.
“Our response to suffering should not be to eliminate the sufferer,” said Pettyjohn, a Georgetown Republican. Pettyjohn said no major medical organization supports assisted suicide.
Democratic Majority Leader Brian Townsend of Newark countered that assisted suicide is not about “eliminating” terminally ill patients, but about “empowering” them. He also noted that the American Medical Association has taken a “neutral” position on assisted suicide, which has become a divisive issue within that organization, and that the Delaware Nurses Association supports the legislation.
Similar to last week, Townsend noted that the vast majority of physician-assisted suicides in other states involve people under hospice care. Currently, only ten states, along with the District of Columbia, have laws legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
There have been no documented cases of abuse or coercion involving assisted suicide since Oregon became the first state to allow it in 1997, Compassion said. & Choices, an interest group.
The Delaware bill passed each chamber of the General Assembly, with only the bare majority of votes needed for passage. It is the latest version of the legislation introduced repeatedly by Newark Democratic Rep. Paul Baumbach since 2015, and the only version to reach a floor vote.
“This is about allowing adults facing terminal illness to make critical decisions about their final days,” Baumbach said in a statement released Tuesday after the vote.
The legislation allows an adult Delaware resident who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and is expected to die within six months to obtain lethal prescription drugs from a doctor or nurse who has primary responsibility for the terminal illness . A consultant doctor or nurse should confirm the diagnosis and prognosis of the patient, who should have ‘decision-making capacity’.
The patient should be evaluated by a psychiatrist or psychologist if any of the medical professionals were concerned that the patient lacks decision-making capacity. A person would also not be eligible for assisted suicide simply because of their age or disability.
The patient would have to make two verbal requests for a lethal prescription, followed by a written request, and would have to wait at least fifteen days after the first request before receiving and self-administering the drugs. The treating doctor or nurse should wait at least 48 hours after the written request, which must be signed by two witnesses, before prescribing the medication.