Colorado may ease residency rule and waiting times for medically assisted suicide
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Even as the doctors question the controversial practice of prescribing life-ending drugs to patients, Colorado wants to make medically assisted suicide easier to access.
What to know: State lawmakers put forward a bill to remove the Colorado residency requirement and shorten the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours.
- The legislation, which is set for a hearing Feb. 29, also requires insurance companies to pay out life insurance benefits for physician-assisted suicide patients, and prohibits coercing them to take the medication.
What they're saying: "We just want to make sure that those people are getting the care and the medication in the best way possible so that their lives will end in a more peaceful manner in the way they want at the time they want," state Sen. Joann Ginal (D-Fort Collins), a bill sponsor, told the Colorado Sun.
Context: Colorado voters approved a "medical aid-in-dying" ballot measure in 2016 to allow terminally ill patients with less than six months to voluntarily end their lives with doctor-prescribed medication.
- In its first six years, through 2022, 1,090 patients were prescribed the medication and 979 deaths were recorded, the state health department reports.
- Prescriptions increased 44% in 2022 from the previous year and deaths increased 20% to 243.
The big picture: The policy is gaining nationwide momentum because of personal anecdotes, experience from states where it's allowed and changing attitudes partly driven by the pandemic's devastation.
- It's legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia, and lawmakers in 19 states are considering permitting the practice.
Go deeper: More states are considering bills allowing medically assisted death this year