Lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to request physician assisted suicide.
Sarah Stern says this bill would have helped her husband, who chose to end his life after exhausting available treatment options for his advanced brain cancer. Without his doctor’s help, he stopped eating and drinking and died of thirst.
“People should have options. No one compels them to do anything. But they should be able to make their own choices and have them respected.”
Others against the bill say each day is worth living - even with a dire diagnosis. Kristen Hanson’s husband JJ also developed brain cancer, but lived three years longer than doctors expected.
“Thankfully JJ didn’t end his life. But he said if he had, had those suicide pills with him during those days he might have taken them. And you can’t undo that choice.”
The bill has yet to be heard in committee.
