Council approves support for medical aid in dying

Resolution urges action by Legislature to allow end-of-life options

Albuquerque city councilors on Monday unanimously approved a resolution urging the state Legislature to support open and accessible medical aid in dying for those terminally ill and mentally competent adults seeking control over their own deaths.

Sponsored by councilors Diane Gibson and Isaac Benton, the resolution supporting “Medical Aid in Dying,” also known as the End of Life Options Act, states that “if people accomplish their advance care planning, have thoughtful conversations with family and loved ones, receive palliative and hospice care when they approach the end of life, the chances of having the kind of death one seeks are greatly improved.”

During discussion, Benton relayed a personal experience with his father-in-law, who was a Holocaust survivor.

“Just last year, I had a member of my family choose the option to end his life in California,” Benton said. “We knew he was very ill. He told us in advance that he had done all the paperwork and done all the proper arrangements to exercise this option in California. I had trepidations about it. It made me nervous, the whole idea to a certain extent, but when I got there and I saw how happy he was, it was remarkable.”

State Reps. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, and Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, introduced the End of Life Options Act during last year’s legislative session. The Senate voted down the bill.

Both representatives addressed the council on Monday, along with other speakers.

One of those was retired Judge Elizabeth Whitefield, who left the federal court bench in 2016.

“I am the face of one of the users of that bill,” Whitefield told councilors through a tracheostomy tube. “I may be using it. I’m not a quitter. I know my death is going to be painful. Having this resolution made into state law allows me to have the dignity that cancer has taken away.”

No one spoke against the resolution during the meeting.

Plans call for the resolution to be delivered and presented to representatives of the state Legislature.