AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature will have to decide once again if Maine should allow a form of physician-assisted suicide. Lawmakers will hear the 'Death with Dignity' bill this week.
Supporters say it's modeled on a 20-year-old law in Oregon, which has now spread to several other states. Supporters say it would allow people who are terminally ill, with six months or less to live, to ask a doctor to prescribe a drug to end their life.
Similar bills have been defeated twice in recent years, but supporters say they believe a majority of Maine people want the right to decide for themselves when, where, and how they will die.
"Death is part of life. Death should come in a humane manner with dignity and honor the person and their values," says Rep. Patricia Hymanson (D-York), a retired physician who is sponsoring the bill. "This bill, the Maine 'Death with Dignity' act, honors that some terminally ill people close to death may want to control when, where, and under what circumstances they will pass."
But there is again strong opposition from several church groups and others, including Rep. Margaret Craven (D-Lewiston), who is a hospice volunteer and has worked with disabled people. She says there are ways to help those suffering at the end of life.
"If they are in pain or despondent in some way, it's not a good time to make a decision like that either. We need to take better care of people who are in the dying process or who have diagnoses that leave them despondent," Craven said Monday.
Opponents of the 'Death with Dignity' bill plan to hold their own press conference Wednesday, prior to the public hearing on the bill.
Supporters of 'Death with Dignity' have a petition to force a statewide referendum vote on the issue. The organizer of the petition says they have all the signatures they need and are just waiting to see what happens to the current bill in the Legislature. If it doesn’t pass, they will turn in the petition to require the public vote.