Aid-in-dying bill needs refinements

... SENATE BILL 308 ... is called the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act. It is meant to give dignity to a person who is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease (and) will die in less than six months who wants medical aid in dying via lethal prescription. The act will protect the providing assistant from criminal liability. There are several concerns that are not addressed completely in the bill, and it is requested these be clarified or corrected before allowing this to proceed.

1. The time frame to obtain the lethal prescription is only 48 hours from the time the request is made. This does not provide enough time for the person to reconsider as they may still be in grief from receiving such horrible news. This should be increased to seven days to allow time for others to provide assistance for the individual.

2. The act only requires the person to attend one session with a mental health provider. There should be more time to fully evaluate the person and to offer other options as there may still be underlying issues.

3. This act only requires one person related to the person to sign. This will have a grave impact on the rest of the family who would want this person to try other solutions. I would suggest at least two family members have to sign.

4. The bill refers to benefits not being impacted, but it does not describe how that will occur. There is concern that the family may lose benefits if the person is a veteran, first responder, has Social Security, or other areas that provide benefits. In many areas, if suicide is the cause of death, they will not receive benefits. I understand the act states the coroner will place the cause of death as the terminal disease, but this is not (necessarily) true and may be fought by the agency as the disease did not cause the death. These areas will need to be further evaluated.