AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Doctors in Maine are divided on state legislation that would allow them to prescribe medication that a patient may self-administer to hasten death.
The Legislature’s health and human services committee on Wednesday held public hearings on bills sponsored by Republican Sen. Roger Katz and Democratic Rep. Jennifer Parker. Katz unsuccessfully tried to pass a similar bill two years ago.
The Maine Medical Association is not taking a position on the legislation because, so far, its members are divided. The association’s executive vice president, Gordon Smith, noted that the membership association opposed a 2000 state referendum to allow physician-assisted deaths for terminally ill adults.
So-called assisted suicide is legal in Washington D.C. and six states, including Vermont. The nonprofit Death with Dignity Political Fund says that 25 states are considering such bills this year.
The Maine bills aim to protect health care providers and to create a process allowing terminally ill adults with limited life expectancy to choose assisted suicide.
Opponents, including religious groups, said the bills would spur elder abuse and exploitation.
Republican Rep. Jeffrey Hanley said the bill would allow Maine to go down a “slippery slope” that could lead to an attitude of: “’You’re old, you can’t do anything, maybe you should end your life.’”
Hanley also said: “In our world we have an ability to make end of life pain free.”
Republican Sen. Paul Davis pointed to experiences from those like activist Stephanie Packer of California, who was diagnosed with a terminal form of scleroderma and lived longer than expected.
Supporters said that the legislation protects against such abuse and that medication cannot treat all pain.
Ann Jackson, former CEO of the Oregon Hospice Association, said she used to oppose such legislation because she thought hospice and palliative care “could meet all the needs of people who are dying.”
“People using the law in Oregon are not choosing because they’re depressed or feel like a burden,” Jackson said. In Oregon, the rate of Death with Dignity Act deaths was 38.6 per 10,000 deaths in 2015.
Maine resident Kathleen Hobson, a stage four cancer patient, said she “will continue to fight” to live and wants a choice.
“I want to have a good death at the end of my life,” she said.
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