A bill legalizing assisted suicide passed the New Jersey legislature on Monday.
"The vulnerable in society: the poor, terminally ill, and people with disabilities, will be the most negatively affected."
New Jersey looks set to become the latest US state to legalise assisted suicide, as both chambers of the state legislature passed The Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act.
The bill, which received 21 votes in the state Senate and 41 in the Assembly—the absolute minimum count of votes required to pass each chamber—will now go to the Governor to be signed. Governor Phil Murphy said on Monday that "allowing terminally ill and dying residents the dignity to make end-of-life decisions according to their own consciences is the right thing to do," meaning the bill is almost certain to reach law.
Seventh state, eighth jurisdiction
The bill was authored by Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli, who has been attempting to pass the legislation for nearly seven years.
New Jersey is the seventh state to legislate for assisted suicide, joining Hawaii, California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state, while the state of Montana's Supreme Court deemed it legal in 2009. Washington DC also passed a "death with dignity" act in 2017.
The bill will allow adults to receive life-ending drugs if two doctors have certified that they have less than six months to live. Critics of the legislation argue that it opens the door for abuse and does not require psychiatric evaluation of patients who may be struggling with depression leading to suicidal inclinations.
"Taxpayers will be complicit"
Patients Rights Action Fund’s Executive Director, Matt Valliere, warned of numerous problems associated with the workings of the proposed law. "Proponents claim that this is an issue of personal choice and that those who object to assisted suicide don’t have to utilize it, but taxpayers will be forced to pay for it through NJ’s Medicaid program which is a state taxpayer funded program," he said. "This means that all taxpayers will be complicit in funding state sanctioned physician assisted suicide if this bill becomes law."
He said that the legislature had failed New Jersey's citizens by passing the bill. "In other states where assisted suicide is legal, it has proven impossible to regulate and leaves the door wide open for abuse and coercion. The vulnerable in society: the poor, terminally ill, and people with disabilities, will be the most negatively affected by assisted suicide. New Jersey ought to be investing in better care and support at the end of life, not enshrining this dangerous public policy into law."
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