Virtually every year for the past 15 years Reps. Jennifer Dailey-Provost and Rebecca Chavez-Houck have introduced the “End-of-Life Options Bill,” which would allow adults in Utah who are deemed to have terminal illnesses the right to end their life with the assistance of a willing physician. This has been allowed in Oregon for at least 20 years and is available in CA, VT, CO, NJ, HI, ME, NM, DE, WA, MT and Washington, D.C.. Canada and many countries in Europe also offer this legal assistance. The world has not come to an end!
Our Utah Legislature holds hearings on these bills and, even though the conference rooms are packed with people supporting this law, they always kill the bill in committee.
Such a bill is the ultimate in personal freedom! Republicans should like bills like this because they would save huge amounts of money. The majority of our health care costs come from our last year of life. Ignoring the moral benefits and needless pain and suffering avoided, think of the billions in savings for Medicare, Medicaid and even Social Security. State budgets would benefit too.
If you are in your 60s and need a heart operation, are otherwise healthy, and likely to live a good quality of life, go ahead and get the operation. If you are near 90, have multiple illnesses, and you are likely to be bedridden, you should have a choice to end your life in a dignified manner and let that money go to your grandkids’ education.
Please, legislators, stop making moral decisions for the rest of us! If you don’t want to take advantage of such a bill, you don’t have to. Please let the rest of us choose! Polls show that most Utahns support such a bill.
Mark Rothacher, Salt Lake City
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