
Some terminally ill patients would have the right to end their lives on their own terms under a proposal by DFL legislators.
A bill dubbed "The Minnesota Compassionate Care Act" is modeled after Oregon's own 1997 Death with Dignity Act. It gives patients with less than six months to live the freedom to accelerate their imminent death. Patients must meet certain criteria, including being a Minnesota resident, having a terminal illness with less than six months to live, be age 18 or over and mentally competent. Its sponsor, Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, cites overwhelming support by Americans for aid in dying, including a 2014 Harris Poll, which found 75 percent support.
Eaton, who does not intend to push for the bill's passage this session, will testify before the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Eaton filed the bill as a conversation starter, and will host listening sessions around the state this summer. After receiving public input, she intends to push the bill during the 2016 legislative session. Her motivation for sponsoring it was simple enough: Her own mother's death.
"She would ask us to take her to the vet because they would treat her better than her doctor, because they would put her to sleep," Eaton said. "She had what I would consider a calm, nice hospice, but she wanted out. She'd had enough."
If the law passes, Minnesota would be the sixth state to authorize the practice after Oregon, Washington, Montana, New Mexico and Vermont. At least 17 states have introduced similar legislation. The bill already has opposition from groups like the Minnesota Family Council, which is expected to show up to Monday's hearing wearing "No Assisted Suicide" stickers.
Dr. David Grube, medical director for Oregon-based Compassion & Choices, said the legislation holds up to legal challenges, though a number are still pending.
If approved by a doctor, a dying patient is given a barbiturate that they must take orally on their own. They fall asleep within minutes and stop breathing within an hour or two. The family and doctor cannot administer the medication. After 17 years, he said, the law works and is not ripe for abuse.
"These people are very sick," he said. "They're not 'kinda' sick."