State lawmakers today are holding an informational hearing on a proposal that would allow for a physician-assisted end-of-life option for terminally ill adults. The bill’s author, Democratic Representative Mike Freiberg of Golden Valley, says the measure “sets out a process by which a person with a terminal illness can choose to end their own life in a non-violent manner.”
Republican Senator Jim Abeler of Anoka opposes the measure and says it will have unintended consequences. Abeler says it has the potential to make “assisted suicide a treatment option.” And Abeler says insurance companies have “already offered to pay in various states where they allow assisted suicides.” Under Freiberg’s bill, two physicians would have to attest that a patient is suffering from a terminal illness–which is defined as an illness where they have less than six months to live. And there has to be a determination that the patient is of sound mind. Abeler says that while he sympathizes with people struggling with terminal illnesses, he is “not willing to put the lives of people with disabilities and people who are already at risk for just committing suicide anyway, to bring this forward as an option that actually is legitimized.”