Assisted suicide bill fails to pass in Connecticut after years of trying

A bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Connecticut failed to pass the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday after years of attempts dating back to 1994.

S.B. 1076, An Act Concerning Aid in Dying For Terminally Ill Patients, was approved last month by the Public Health Committee, but a passage from the Judiciary Committee was required before it could go to a full House vote, according to the Hartford Courant. But the Judiciary Committee declined to vote.

“We’re very glad that this bill is dead, and we’re especially happy for our allies in the disability and progressive community who opposed assisted suicide and were completely ignored by the Public Health Committee. We feel like the Judiciary Committee listened to them when the Public Health Committee refused to,” said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut.

S.B. 1076 would have allowed Connecticut residents ages 21 and over with a life expectancy of fewer than six months to die by assisted suicide as long as they were considered competent, had at least one session with a counselor, saw a doctor every 30 days until their death, and submitted two written requests for assisted suicide signed by two witnesses. The regulations would have been some of the strictest in the states that do allow assisted suicide.

However, as has been made evident in other nations including Canada, seemingly strict regulations on assisted death quickly give way to more relaxed rules and even lead to pressure for people to choose assisted death over other options including palliative care.

“The struggle and concern on this bill, I think for many of us, does come down to endorsing a policy where there are still, even despite the language changes, a lot of outstanding questions,” Judiciary Co-Chair Steven Stafstrom said. “I think I struggled less with it earlier in the session, before we saw legislative efforts and litigation efforts in other states to undo many of the protections we tried to put in this bill. … Maybe I’m in agreement with some that this legislation’s day may come but I think that there are still some outstanding issues we are right to be cautious on.”

The committee’s decision not to vote on the bill comes less than a month after a Connecticut woman was approved for assisted suicide in Vermont despite that state still debating whether to allow non-residents to access physician-assisted death.

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