Throughout my life, I’ve had control over my personal decisions, whether I attained higher education, whether I lived a healthy lifestyle, whether I chose to accept or deny medical treatment for any disease or condition I might have.
But in Delaware, when I approach the end of my life, I don’t have the right to decide how or when I will die if I am terminally ill and suffering terribly.
I urge the Delaware legislature to pass House Bill 140, The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law. The bill would give mentally capable, terminally ill adults with a diagnosis of six months or less to live (as confirmed by two doctors) the legal right to choose to end their own suffering with medication prescribed by a health care professional who is willing to assist.
That’s all the bill does. It gives the final decision on when and how to die to the dying person if he or she meets the criteria. Period. That decision, like all the other decisions about my life, should be mine. Not a doctor’s. Not a family member’s. Certainly not the government’s.
Every Delawarean deserves the legal right to make their own decisions about their end-of-life care, including the option to choose medical aid in dying.
Ensuring my rights does not mean anyone loses their rights. Each of us should have the right to decide for himself or herself.
Please contact your state legislators and urge them to pass House Bill 140.
Judith Butler
Wilmington
