Tell Us: Should Physicians Be Allowed to End Terminally ill Patients' Lives?

As part of the November election, voters will have a chance to move in favor or against a question regarding medication for terminally ill patients. 

The proposed law would allow a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient’s request, to end that patient’s life, according to Secretary of State William F. Galvin's website.

To qualify, a patient would have to be an adult resident who is medically determined, to be mentally capable of making and communicating health care decisions; be diagnosed by attending and consulting physicians as having an incurable, irreversible disease that will, within reasonable medical judgment, cause death within six months; and voluntarily expresses a wish to die and has made an informed decision. To read the full text of the ballot quesiton, click here.

The proposed law states that the patient would ingest the medicine in order to cause death in a humane and dignified manner.

A YES vote would enable the law to allow a licensed physician to prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally-ill patient meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life.

A NO vote would make no change in existing laws.

Do you support Question 2 on the November ballot, which allows licensed physicians to prescribe medicine to end a terminally ill patient's life?