Test Drive Our New Site! We have some improvements in the works that we're excited for you to experience. Click here to try our new, faster, mobile friendly beta site. We will be maintaining our current version of the site thru the end of 2024, so you can switch back as our improvements continue.
Legislation Quick Search
Advanced Search
Pennsylvania State Senate
04/19/2024 04:39 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=32706
Share:
Home / Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Subscribe to PaLegis Notifications
NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search


Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: December 1, 2020 10:51 AM
From: Senator Lisa M. Boscola
To: All Senate members
Subject: Death with Dignity Act
 
Soon I will reintroduce the Pennsylvania “Death with Dignity Act." This bill would allow people with a terminal disease to request a prescription for medicine that would end their life in a humane and dignified manner. This legislation is based on an Oregon law that has been in effect for several years and was upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Most, if not all of us, want to determine our own end of life decisions. My bill would make that possible. To be prescribed life ending medicine, a patient must adhere to strict criteria:
  • The patient must be a resident of Pennsylvania.
  • The request must come from the patient, on a form prescribed in the statute.
  • The request must be witnessed by two people, one of whom would have to be a non-relative who had no financial stake in the death of the patient.
  • Those witnesses must certify that the patient is of sound mind.
  • The patient’s attending physician must certify that the patient has a terminal disease, has less than six months to live, and has been notified of their options including the possibility of comfort care, hospice care or pain control.
  • A second “consulting physician” must certify everything the attending physician did.
  • The patient would have the right, at any point, to decide not to seek the prescription described in this bill.
There are numerous other protections in the bill which will guarantee that every request made under the Death with Dignity Act is voluntary, informed and made without coercion of any kind. This bill will go a long way toward ensuring that people suffering from terminal diseases in Pennsylvania retain control over their end-of-life care.

Please join me in supporting this important legislation.


Introduced as SB405