Lawmakers in the Delaware House approved a bill Tuesday that would legalize assisted suicide in the state. The legislation passed in a narrow 21-17 vote, with three members absent.
House Bill 140 would allow a person who has been diagnosed as “terminally” ill with less than six months to live to qualify for drugs that would end his or her life. Both physicians and advanced practice registered nurses would be permitted to diagnose and approve a patient for assisted death.
Supporters of the bill emphasized their belief that its passage would be “dignified” and “compassionate.”
“I ask my colleagues to pass this bill today so that terminally ill Delawareans have the right to end their lives in a dignified manner with as little suffering as possible,” State Rep. Eric Morrison said. “Passing this act is the right and compassionate thing to do.”
Despite these words, studies have shown that in reality, assisted suicide deaths are traumatic and even incredibly painful — not peaceful.
The same drugs used for assisted suicide are those used for lethal injections. And because a paralytic is involved, a person can look peaceful, while they actually drown to death in their own bodily secretions. Experimental assisted suicide drugs have led to the “burning of patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.” Furthermore, a study in the medical journal Anaesthesia found that a third of patients took up to 30 hours to die after ingesting assisted suicide drugs, while four percent took seven days to die.
READ: People with Down syndrome won’t be protected from coercive assisted suicide in UK
“Advocates of assisted dying owe a duty to the public to be truthful about the details of killing and dying,” Dr. Joel Zivot, an associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at the Emory School of Medicine, said in a 2022 interview. “People who want to die deserve to know that they may end up drowning, not just falling asleep.”
This reality was emphasized by Valerie Jones Giltner, a retired critical care nurse who testified against the bill.
“I think we are doing a disservice to the citizens of Delaware by letting them think that this bill will then have a Hollywood-style death,” she said. “They are thinking that it is compassionate care, but with this lethal concoction of drugs, some patients take 10 days to die. It is not pretty.”
Just last year, a nearly identical bill passed both the House and the Senate, only to be vetoed by Democratic Governor John Carney, who said he was “fundamentally opposed” to assisted killing because it is a “deeply personal issue.” The state now has a new governor, Matt Meyer, who has said he would sign a bill if it comes to him.
“The option to choose that path should also be left up to doctors, patients, and their families, free from government interference,” Meyer told WBOC.
Sadly, the ‘right to die’ can quickly become a ‘duty to die,’ as experts have previously noted.
