Delaware Democrat Gov. Matt Meyer signed a bill on Tuesday legalizing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients given six months or less to live.
Meyers claimed the measure, called the End-of-Life Options Act, is about “compassion, dignity, and respect for personal choice.” The bill, which will take effect next year, allows those patients to request a prescription to self-administer and end their lives, Fox News Digital reported.
“We’re acknowledging today that even in the last moments of life, compassion matters,” Meyer said at the bill signing. “Every Delawarean should have the right to face their final chapter with peace, dignity, and control.”
“This signing today is about relieving suffering and giving families the comfort of knowing that their loved one was able to pass on their own terms, without unnecessary pain, and surrounded by the people they love most,” he added.
Under the bill, qualified patients considering assisted suicide must be offered other options for end-of-life care, like comfort care, palliative care, hospice, and pain control, according to the report. Patients must also go through two waiting periods and have a second medical opinion on their prognoses before they can obtain the lethal medication. The bill was sponsored by Democrat state Rep. Eric Morrison.
Delaware is now the 11th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, joining Vermont, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, Maine, Hawaii, Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C. Several other countries have also legalized the practice — sometimes euphemistically called “death with dignity” — including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
“Today, Delaware joins a growing number of states in recognizing that end-of-life decisions belong to patients — not politicians,” Meyer said. “This law is about compassion, dignity, and respect. It gives people facing unimaginable suffering the ability to choose peace and comfort, surrounded by those they love. After years of debate, I am proud to sign HB 140 into law.”
The Delaware legislature rejected the bill last year, but Meyer threw his support behind the measure this session and lawmakers ended up passing it last month, according to the report.
RELATED: Nevada Legislature Quashes Bill to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide
Carol Tobias of National Right to Life condemned Meyer’s signing of the bill in a statement to LifeNews, a pro-life news website.
“Delaware’s new law puts lives at risk. Assisted suicide laws offer no compassion, no hope, and no help for vulnerable members of our society. End-of-life discussions should focus on palliative care, hospice, and support options. Assisted suicide shifts the focus from life-affirming care to premature death and erodes the public trust in healthcare and medical doctors,” Tobias said.
“So-called safeguards do not work. No safeguard can fully prevent subtle pressures, as evidenced by Dutch Alzheimer’s cases where patients were euthanized despite earlier expressions of doubt or resistance, including a widely reported case in which a woman was euthanized against her will while being physically restrained by her family and doctor,” she continued.
“The horror of assisted suicide is that many of the most vulnerable in our society are pressured to ‘choose’ assisted suicide which normalizes a culture of death — devaluing the lives of the disabled, elderly, and chronically ill. As society attitudes shift, legalization creates a ‘duty to die’ mindset and puts our most vulnerable members of society at risk,” she concluded.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton
