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A decade-long fight over whether to let terminally ill patients hasten their deaths with physician oversight returned Monday in a two-hour House hearing, but lawmakers again said the Senate is likely to be the stumbling block this year.
鈥淭he votes aren鈥檛 there. Not in committee and not on the floor,鈥� Senate Judicial Proceedings Chair Will Smith (D-Montgomery) said Monday evening.
His comments came just hours after a joint hearing by the House Judiciary and the Government and Operations committees on聽, the End of Life Option Act, which would allow certain terminally ill patients to request medical aid in dying with the help of a physician.
In order to qualify under the bill, patients would have to have the capacity to make their own medical decisions and have less than six months to live. The legislation requires both an oral request and written request with two witnesses and a required wait time to ensure that the patient wants to go through with the measure, among other restrictions.
Debate on the bill is often emotionally charged, a challenge to lawmakers鈥� moral values that does not cut cleanly on party lines. But the bill鈥檚 main sponsor, Del. Terri Hill (D-Howard), says it provides 鈥渃ompassion and autonomy to those facing imminent death.鈥�
Medical aid-in-dying has had a dramatic history in the General Assembly over the past decade. In 2019, the bill failed on a 23-23 tie in the Senate after one senator聽, saying he 鈥渃ould not bring myself鈥� to vote one way or the other. In 2024, advocates and Senate leadership thought it would聽but it stalled Judicial Proceedings amid concerns that there were not enough votes聽.
Smith, who is聽聽in the Senate this year, said changes in the membership of the Senate and his committee do not appear to have improved its chances this year. It will still have a hearing next week in Judicial Proceedings next week, Smith said, giving lawmakers a little time to consider the legislation. But Smith says medical aid-in-dying is not an issue you can 鈥渢wist arms on.鈥�
The moral dilemmas the bill presents were on display during Monday鈥檚 joint House hearing.
Supporters say the bill grants dying patients the ability to set the terms of their deaths, rather than waiting for the end to come 鈥� possibly in severe pain due to their illnesses.
鈥淚 ask you all, yet again, how many more Marylanders have to die without this option?鈥� asked Brandi Alexander, an advocate with Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit advocacy group pushing for aid-in-dying legislation across the U.S.
鈥淲e sit here year after year, debating opinions and statistics and facts, but this is about people 鈥� dying people that, frankly, deserve more from their leadership,鈥� said Alexander, a Prince George鈥檚 County resident.
She referenced a survey of Maryland voters last year聽聽that found nearly 70% of Marylanders supported medical aid-in-dying options. The poll was conducted by Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media and commissioned by Compassion and Choices.
鈥淵et and still, we continue to spend hours and now years actually pontificating while dying people are suffering,鈥� Alexander said.
Del. Brian Chisholm (R-Anne Arundel) noted the reappearance of the bill over the years, but said he held 鈥渢he same reservations about this bill鈥� this session as he has in the past.
鈥淭here are a lot of vulnerable people. There are people who are disabled 鈥� there鈥檚 people who can鈥檛 communicate,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 always going to be my concern with this legislation. People with Alzheimer鈥檚, starting to lose their mind, people who are elderly who are not all the way there.
鈥淚 just don鈥檛 know if there are enough protections that could ever be put in place to make sure that the most,鈥� he said.
Laura Bogley, executive director for Maryland Right to Life, worries that passing the current bill would snowball into bigger issues.
鈥淎 procedure that begins with safe, legal and rare can quickly become an unregulated monopoly that deprives patients access to life-saving alternatives,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e urge you to put patients over profits and keep assisted suicide in criminal codes where it belongs.鈥�
The disability community were split on the issue Monday.
Nicole LeBlanc, a resident from Silver Spring who is on the autism spectrum, opposes the legislation. She fears people with disabilities would consider medical aid-in-dying options because they 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to be to be a burden to their families.鈥�
But Seth Morgan, who has multiple sclerosis and also advocates for Compassion and Choices, supports the bill because 鈥渄isability is not a terminal illness鈥� and he believes there are enough protections in it to protect the disability community from widespread misuse of the bill.
Hill assured that those who are not mentally capable of making their own medical decisions would not be eligible to receive medical aid-in-dying options.
But without support from the Judicial Proceedings Committee, the fight could continue for another year, to the disappointment of advocates who support of the legislation.
鈥淚f I sound angry, it鈥檚 because we鈥檝e worked for 10 years and it鈥檚 usually some kind of political pandering that doesn鈥檛 let this bill see the daylight,鈥� Edna Hirsch said in support of the legislation Monday. 鈥淧lease, I beg you, let this get to the General Assembly. Let it get out of committee and let it get voted on.鈥�
