A bill that two state lawmakers plan to introduce in the upcoming legislative session would allow people facing the final months of a terminal illness to have safe and legal access to drugs they can use to end their lives on their own terms.
It’s a deeply controversial proposal, but one that should particularly resonate in a state like Colorado where independence and free choice are esteemed.
We hope this bill gets serious and ultimately positive consideration from lawmakers.
Modeled after Oregon’s law, the Colorado draft bill puts in place reasonable safeguards for patients and doctors as they navigate these difficult issues.
First, a patient must be terminally ill and judged by a doctor to be six months or less from death.
It requires the terminally ill individual to make two oral requests for life-ending medication, and another via a written statement, signed in the presence of disinterested witnesses.
Furthermore, a doctor is required to certify that an individual has the mental capacity to voluntarily make the request.
It’s important to note the draft bill does not endorse euthanasia — a situation where a doctor or someone else would administer the lethal medication.
State Reps. Lois Court and Joann Ginal proposed the measure after of the plight of Charles Selsberg.
A Denver resident and retired real estate agent, Selsberg wrote of his last days in and how it left him on life support.
“I never thought I would be this person, really just this mind now, trapped in a dead body,” he wrote, with the assistance of his daughter Julie Selsberg.
He asked Colorado to “show its compassion” and consider adopting a law similar to the one . It allows terminally-ill patients to self-administer lethal medications prescribed by a doctor.
And we agree: Those facing situations like the one Charles Selsberg endured should have a reliable and peaceful way to end their lives if and when they want, surrounded by family and friends if that is their choice.
The bill’s proponents call their measure “death with dignity,” but the description is not quite apt. While such an option may be preferable to some, the deaths of those who choose an end from natural causes are no less dignified.
That nuance only underscores how intensely personal this decision is, and should be.
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