HB254

I lost my only sister to a rare liver cancer a year ago. She had incredible amounts of pain (such that doctors at the world's best hospitals in Boston struggled to solve it) and had been researching end of life options in Vermont and Maine. Having the option here in the "live free or die" state to do exactly that, for those of sound mind who otherwise meet the strict criteria outlined, would have been something which she would have greatly appreciated and preferred. It is truly unfathomable the amount of pain some people can be in with terminal illnesses and to prolong such suffering is a cruel punishment on top of an already bleak near future. Please strongly consider advancing this bill.

End of Life Option Act Would Provide a Compassion-based Option for Dying Adults By Brent Richardson, APRN, HEC-C I am a New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner (APRN) with 25 years of experience, specializing in critical care, palliative care, and healthcare ethics. I have spent my career treating serious illnesses and saving lives; however, that is not always possible. When death is inevitable, my role is to provide comfort, dignity, and a gentle landing for my patients and support to their loved ones. I strongly support the End of Life Option Act (HB 1283), which would create a legal framework for medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults in NH who have decision-making capacity, a prognosis of less than 6 months, and make a fully informed request for assistance with dying at the end of their life. I would like to explain what the End of Life Option Act does not do, and I would like to describe the people it would help. There is much misinformation and disinformation swirling around this issue in the news. Unfortunately, several issues are being erroneously conflated with what the End of Life Option Act sets out to do and what medical aid in dying actually is. First, medical aid in dying is not suicide, nor does it promote suicide. Second, medical aid in dying cannot be used by people who cannot speak for themselves, whether they live with disabilities–or without them. This bill and the laws in the 10 states and Washington, D.C. that allow medical aid in dying protect specifically against that scenario. Third, some organized religions oppose medical aid in dying for moral reasons. No person would ever be compelled to choose medical aid in dying, if it does not fit their belief system. Conversely, with the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion, no religious organization can or should be able to impose its will and dictate how a terminally ill adult can die in NH. In my experience, expert hospice and palliative care can bring adequate comfort and symptom relief to most people at the end of life. Unfortunately, there are some predictable situations where even the best care can still result in undue suffering. If a woman with intolerable pain and ongoing seizures from an untreatable brain cancer wishes to choose the day of her death and end her suffering, she should have that legal option. If a person has a terminal progressive neurodegenerative illness and wishes to die before they can no longer swallow or breathe without machines, again, that human being should have the option. My friend’s unfortunate experience illustrates the need for medical aid in dying. She held her husband as he bled to death from a throat cancer eroding into the blood vessels in his airway, while on hospice. He wanted medical aid in dying here at home in NH, so he could die peacefully, on his own terms, in his own home. Unfortunately, he bled to death because he was too weak for the journey to Vermont where this compassionate care option is legal. A recent UNH survey shows that most NH adults (71%) believe that patients who wish for this option should have access to medical aid in dying in these cases, including every faith group polled, 65% of Protestant voters, 63% of Roman Catholic voters, and 62% of Jewish voters. The End of Life Option Act is quite simply about providing a compassion-based option for dying adults, nothing more, nothing less. Brent Richardson, APRN, HEC-C, Fellow in Bioethics at Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. Chair NHAEOLO

I am 78 years old, and I support this bill because I want the freedom to make my own choices if I am ever in the situation where I am faced with incurable, untreatable, debilitating illness or condition. I have no desire to have vast medical intervention and expense in order to provide another short period of pain and suffering. I urge the committee to support this bill.

As someone with MS, I foresee the possibility of my last days being severely diminished quality of life with psychic as well as physical pain. This bill is about alleviating suffering and for me and others an opportunity to plan my departure at a time my family can all gather without burden. For those who believe in God and oppose this…do you really think he wants us to suffer? For those who oppose because because it can manipulate the dying person, you are correct it could happen but I believe that is the exception not the rule. And it could offer relief. Please vote for compassion with empathy.

I strongly support this bill and urge my representatives to pass it.

EVERYONE should have the choice about their end of life care, and when they're journey in this existence ends. I fully support medical aid in dying!

I support the freedom to choose how I want to end my life when faced with an illness with a extremely poor prognosis. I do not want to burden my family with the emotional turmoil and the medical cost . My wife suffered with this with her father who had end stage dementia.

I believe strongly that the right to die is a vital piece of this state’s motto, Live Free or die. It should be read as live free, die free. Please pass this bill.

I view this bill as imperative for the health and peace of mind of people who have come to the end of life without any options for recovery from whatever ails them.

This is such an important bill! I live in a Continuing Care Retirement Community and have watched family and friends die. Even with excellent hospice care, the process is painful and difficult. Some few folks have gone to Vermont and been in control of the end of their lives. We need a similar approach in New Hampshire. Please vote for this bill!

I wish to have a choice about how my life ends. I believe in separation of Church and State. I do not want others telling me how I am going to die or keeping me alive against my wishes. I prefer to die with dignity.

I watched my mother-in-law and then my father suffer in the end stages of their terminal diseases. They each begged me to find a way to end their suffering. I felt so helpless and distressed that there was no option other than to be with them while they endured weeks of constant unbearable pain and indignities until they finally mercifully passed. This is no way to treat a human life. We can do better! This bill is the change we need. I wish this was an option for my strong hard working father and my kind, loving mother-in-law. Please don't let unfounded fears of abuse keep the terminally ill from exercising their right of self-determination. There are many protections in the bill to prevent potential abuse and misuse of the law. Thank you for your consideration.

I am writing to urge passage of this Bill. I have watched family members struggle with terminal diseases. I watched my mother die from cancer in prolonged agony in hospital/hospice where she wished for nothing more than to be released, but was forced to linger. This was a terrible experience for both her, and the whole family. Years later, my brother was also diagnosed with a terminal abdominal cancer, and was facing a similarly long painful death. However, he lived in Ontario, Canada, where he was able to take advantage of the MAID program (Medical Assistance In Dying). This program allowed him to say his goodbyes to family while still able to enjoy our time together, and he was allowed to choose his time of departure, and was accompanied by my sister, who held his hand as he passed. For all involved this was a very dignified and touching departure, and he was allowed to die in a manner consistent with his views. He, and the rest of the family were very grateful for the MAID option. Death is the most intensely personal experience possible, and I firmly believe that it should always be the right of the affected individual to depart in as personally meaningful and dignified a manner as is possible, and we should never allow the dictates of the state, or the views or beliefs of those not directly affected, to remove the possibility of a dignified exit from this world. I strongly support the option for Death With Dignity, as proposed in this Bill.

I am enthusiastically in favor of this bill to have autonomy to decide one's fate.

My brother-in-law found he had a fatal disease and was in pain. He was allowed to end his suffering because he lived in Canada. Both my parents suffered from the same disease and I watched them suffer through to the end. My parents wanted nothing more than to be allowed to move on. If this is truly my life, then I should be allowed to have a say in it. Additionally, I think it is humane to assist anyone with the desire to leave within their own timeframe, and in this manner, complete the mission without complications that could make things worse for the sufferer.

In this lifetime as we near the last chapter it becomes important to die with dignity on our own terms. At the present time I am watching. a 74 year old in diapers, totally bedridden due to a brain tumor leaving her with no quality of life. Sure she could quit eating and maybe be gone in 6 days but as a family member is this our only choice? The suffering and misery of the dying person as well as the family members, both husband and wife working with three kids and living states away, the situation is appalling. In my younger years I was against this type of bill due to greedy relatives but there are so many safeguards that I am in agreement with letting this bill go forward. Thank you.

I strongly support medical aid in dying. MAID can help patients who are suffering and can no longer find relief by other means. It can help bring comfort and peace of mind to patients and their loved ones. MAID is a matter of bodily autonomy, a right everyone should have. Please support HB 254. Thank you, Sue Vatnick