Fortified by a victory in Colorado Tuesday, a controversial campaign to let terminally ill patients access life-ending medication is moving on to other battlegrounds across the country.
By an overwhelming vote Tuesday, Coloradans allowing physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to mentally fit, terminally ill adults who want to end their lives. Colorado is the sixth state to allow the practice, following Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and California. Washington, D.C., is similar legislation as soon as this month.
Colorado鈥檚 ballot initiative proposal met resistance from religious groups with moral objections and disability advocates leery of abuse of power. Opponents raised over $2.6 million, the bulk of which came from the Archdiocese of Denver. Supporters, who argued that terminally ill patients deserve the option to 鈥渄ie with dignity,鈥� raised over $5.4 million, mostly from the Compassion & Choices Action Network.
鈥淐olorado demonstrates what we have been saying: Voters want medical aid-in-dying laws because they want to have all possible options at the end of life,鈥� said Toni Broaddus, acting national director of political affairs and advocacy at Compassion & Choices, which has been pushing for these laws across the country.
Advocates took the matter directly to voters after Colorado legislators rejected a similar bill last year. When all ballots were counted Wednesday, the by a margin of nearly 2-1.
鈥淲hen you pass a bill by such a significant majority,鈥� Broaddus said, 鈥渋t just demonstrates the non-partisan nature of this issue, and the widespread support.鈥�
Colorado was one of 19 states to consider right-to-die laws this year. While many legislative sessions have ended, Broaddus said she is hopeful about pending legislation in New Jersey, and expects a bill in New York to be reintroduced in January.
Broaddus said Compassion & Choices has staff on the ground and networks of volunteers ready to work, in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Minnesota, Hawaii, New Mexico and Massachusetts. That may be just the beginning: 鈥淐lose to half鈥� of the states will consider similar legislation in 2017, she predicted.
These efforts have gained steam since , an eloquent 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer, became the public face of the movement in 2014. Because her home state of California would not allow it at the time, Maynard moved to Oregon to acquire the lethal prescription that she used to end her life. Maynard鈥檚 husband, Dan Diaz, has spent the last two years urging other states to give patients that option.
The momentum also comes at a time when baby boomers are aging, confronting end-of-life planning for their parents and themselves, and seeking to 鈥渕ake sure we don鈥檛 have unwanted medical care,鈥� Broaddus said.
In addition to its legislative efforts, Compassion & Choices is pushing courts to clarify state law in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. That approach proved effective in Montana, where the state supreme court that state law protects physicians from prosecution if they help terminally ill patients die, effectively legalizing the practice.
These efforts across the country have sent opponents scrambling.
鈥淭hose who favor this are targeting every state,鈥� said Rita Marker, executive director of the Patient Rights Council, which opposes such measures.
In Washington, D.C., her group has been working with African-American churches and low-income senior citizens who fear the laws will put disadvantaged patients at risk.
Colorado鈥檚 new law, based on Oregon鈥檚 1997 law, requires patients to make two verbal requests 15 days apart, and one written request observed by two witnesses, to obtain lethal medication. Two doctors must affirm that the patient has six months or less to live.
While no malicious deaths have been reported since Oregon legalized the process nearly 20 years ago, Marker said the safeguards aren鈥檛 strong enough to prevent coercion by doctors, relatives or heirs. These laws require patients to self-administer the drugs, but Marker noted there鈥檚 no requirement that a physician witness the death.
鈥淎ll of these safeguards stop when the so-called prescription is filled,鈥� she said.
Diane Coleman, president of a national disability advocacy group called Not Dead Yet, said the laws create a dangerous financial dynamic in which insurance companies may deny expensive treatments but cover lethal drugs.
鈥淲ill insurers do the right thing or the cheap thing?鈥� she asked.
Coleman also said a faulty diagnosis could prompt patients to end their lives earlier than need be. Her group, which has only three paid staff members, is working with networks of disability advocates to fight legislation across the country.
鈥淲herever the bills are brought up, we will be giving our best efforts,鈥� she said.
KHN鈥檚 coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by .