On May 8 I drove to Dover to testify for the first time before a legislative committee. The hallways were packed with people interested in end-of-life options, several gun control bills, and other legislation.
The Senate gun bill proceedings made front-page news, whereas the deliberations of a House committee to consider House Bill 140, the Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Option Act, received much less attention.
This is despite the fact that both topics involve basic freedoms and address life-and-death issues, and a significant number of 50 people were registered to testify on both sides of the end-of-life debate, as compared to 75 on the gun bills.
Due to a second bill, scheduled first on the agenda, and limited time, HB 140, after only 10 people being allowed to testify, and no time for discussion, was pulled from being voted on by its author.
This is the third time Rep. Paul Baumbach has put this measure forward for consideration.
To persist like this, he must be passionate about this issue, as am I. I have experienced the deaths of multiple people close to me from catastrophic illnesses, the first being my mother, who passed from untreatable cancer in her abdomen when she was just 37, and I 14.
I understand that the idea of physician-assisted suicide is frightening to many, but I do not think examination of statistics from states in the U.S. where it is legal nor countries like the Netherlands bear out the fears of abuse cited by those who oppose HB 140.
I would have liked to have had for my loved ones and I would like to have for myself the option, at the end of life, to have frank discussions with all involved about my condition and prognosis, and the ability to say and receive final words, supported by the knowledge that they and I could limit unnecessary suffering, and isolating sedation, and pass when and how they and I choose.
I would ask those who cite the admirable principles of “first do no harm” and “thou shall not kill” to oppose end-of-life options to look more deeply, and see if condemning a person to suffering and a lack of choice is not in fact doing harm and killing a person in spirit, if not in body. Our country was founded on a principle of the right to “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
If you agree with me, and support my and all Delaware citizens’ right to this principle through all stages of life, please ask your state legislators not to abandon this cause.
Sturges Dodge
Rehoboth Beach
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