Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer has the last chance to turn back physician-assisted suicide in the state after 11 Senate Democrats formed a narrow majority on Holy Thursday to pass the bill they have been pushing most of the last decade.
Moments after his January inauguration, Meyer said if such a bill makes it to his desk he will sign it. The measure made it through the state House earlier this session and was passed by the Senate Apil 17 by the narrowest of margins with 11 Democrats voting in favor and a bipartisan group of eight voting against with two absent.
The bill goes next to Meyer’s desk.
A similar scenario played out in Delaware last summer, but then-Gov. John Carney vetoed the same HB 140, saying he is “fundamentally and morally opposed to state law enabling someone, even under tragic and painful circumstances, to take their own life,”
“This session, sponsors have once again pushed assisted suicide and have once again passed this bill,” said Jessica Rodgers, coalitions director for the Patients’ Rights Action Fund. “The legislature chose to disregard the opposition of the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians, the Psychiatric Society of Delaware, and the Delaware Chapter of the American College of Physicians in their actions today, as well as countless other medical and disability rights organizations.”
Senate Democrats joining five Republican colleagues in opposing physician-assisted suicide were Sens. Spiros Mantzavinos, Nicole Poore and Jack Walsh
“This bill has passed with the slimmest of margins above the outcry of disability activists, doctors, nurses, and every day Delawareans who have spoken out on behalf of every vulnerable patient placed in danger by assisted suicide policies,” Rodgers said. “The tireless advocacy I have seen in Delaware is inspiring and I am grateful for the opportunity to have witnessed the passion, intelligence, and empathy of Delawareans who have stood in the gap against this bill for so long.
“It is a testament to their efforts that this bill has passed after so many years of effort by the pro-assisted suicide lobby.”
Rodgers credited “tremendous advocates in Delaware who have held back this dangerous and discriminatory legislation for a decade.”
The Delaware Catholic Advocacy Network said HB 140 has “serious flaws” that would endanger the elderly, mentally ill and disabled and could result in elder abuse, insurance fraud and an increase in the overall suicide rate. It also would fundamentally change the legal approach to medical ethics, medical practice and health-care decision-making in Delaware, the group said.
