I was glad to hear that at a recent meeting held by state Rep. Mindy Domb with residents at Applewood retirement community, one of the issues most on people’s minds was death with dignity, and the bill in the Legislature called The End of Life Options Act.
Rep. Domb is a co-sponsor of this bill, along with dozens of other legislators, including many from western Massachusetts such as Sen. Jo Comerford of Hampshire and Franklin counties, and Reps. Daniel Carey, Natalie Blais, Lindsay Sabadosa, Eric Lesser and several others who represent Hampden County.
My partner is a retired emergency room doctor at Holyoke Hospital, and he supports death with dignity, also known as medical and compassionate aid in dying, just like the majority of physicians in our state. That’s because in December 2017, the Massachusetts Medical Society — after polling its members — ended its long-held opposition to medical aid in dying and adopted a new position of “neutral engagement.”
New Jersey just became the eighth state, plus Washington, D.C., to offer its terminally ill citizens this peaceful and humane option, and I’d like Massachusetts to become the ninth. I want this option available for those I love, and for myself.
Please join me in contacting and urging Rep. John Mahoney, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, to schedule a public hearing soon about this bill, and then to pass it. Mahoney can be reached at 617-722-2460, ext. 1, or at john.mahoney@mahouse.gov.
And contact friends and family all over the state, and urge them to do the same with Mahoney and their own legislators.
Nadine Shank
Amherst