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Utah lawmakers on Wednesday began their study of an upcoming bill to legalize fatal prescriptions for terminally ill patients.

Members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee did not discuss or debate the issue, but heard brief testimony from Dan Diaz, whose wife, Brittany Maynard, died in 2014 after moving to Oregon to take advantage of that state's Death With Dignity law.

California has since enacted similar legislation — the fifth U.S. state to do so — that allows patients with terminal diagnoses to obtain and self-administer a prescription to end their lives.

"Within five minutes of taking the medication, Brittany fell asleep peacefully," Diaz said. "Within 30 minutes, her breathing slowed to the point that she passed away."

Diaz spoke at the invitation of Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houk, who for the past two years has sponsored right-to-die bills.

Both bills failed to gain the approval of the Health and Human Services Committee, which twice voted to hold the bills for study during interim meetings.

During the legislative session, she said she intends to continue sponsoring her bill, the End of Life Options Act, until it passes.

"We want to honor patient choice," Chavez-Houk said. "The decisions are difficult, but the journey is something I want to respect regardless of what that journey looks like."

Diaz said critics of right-do-die laws incorrectly equate death with failure by the medical community, or defeat by a patient.

He said applying for and receiving a fatal prescription increased Maynard's ability and resolve to fight her cancer, because it mitigated the fear of how she would experience her final days of life.

"Death is not failure," Diaz said. "To a terminally ill individual like my wife Brittany, and anyone that finds themself in that predicament, suffering would be failure."

He emphasized that traditional services like hospice and palliative care are able to provide comfortable living to many patients with serious illness.

But for his wife and many individuals, he said, the future is one of unbearable pain, insomnia, nausea, seizures, blindness and paralysis.

"Had we stayed in California," Diaz said, "the brain tumor that we discovered on New Year's Day 2014 would have tortured her to death."

Members of the committee did not ask questions of Diaz following his testimony.

The committee is expected to hold an additional hearing on the End of Life Options Act next month, Chavez-Houk said.

Twitter: @bjaminwood