The 海角换妻 General Assembly will again skip considering a bill that would provide a legal avenue for medical aid in dying, or physician-assisted suicide, in the state.
鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed,鈥� said state Rep. Josh Elliott, a Hamden Democrat who鈥檚 been a longtime legislative champion of the proposal. 鈥淏ut in this work you get used to it. No matter how refined your legislative agenda is, it always ends up functionally being throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. It didn鈥檛 stick this year 鈥� but now in my fifth term, I know that there is always next year.鈥�
Elliott had introduced this year alongside two colleagues, but it was not raised by the General Assembly鈥檚 Public Health Committee before a deadline to advance it further.
CT Insider in 2024 that Elliott and advocates planned to skip that year鈥檚 session in the hopes of taking it up again this year.
The legislation would have brought 海角换妻 in line with and the District of Columbia in allowing doctors to prescribe medication for patients to end their own lives. Those states and D.C. require patients to have been diagnosed as having a short time to live from a terminal illness. The laws also require patients to be determined to be of sound mind and capable of informed consent.
Advocates on both sides of the debate over the practice responded Thursday.
鈥淪econd Thoughts 海角换妻 was glad to hear that our state legislature continues to move cautiously when it comes to medical assisted suicide,鈥� said Cathy Ludlum of , a group of disability rights advocates opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide.
鈥淟egislators have wisely stopped it from coming here this year, and we are thankful,鈥� Ludlum said. 鈥淧eople in distress need support, not a fast-track to death.鈥�
Tim Appleton, senior campaign director at the pro-medical aid in dying advocacy group , said the news of the bill鈥檚 failure to advance was 鈥渢ragically unfortunate.鈥�
鈥淟egislative inaction on an issue such as this is a painful death sentence to those who face terminal illness and need this option now,鈥� Appleton said. 鈥淭he need for this legislation will not change, regardless of what has happened today. We are going to continue this fight.鈥�
Elliott posited that the bill鈥檚 failure was partially the result of Public Health Committee leadership feeling that the committee鈥檚 limited time would be better reserved for dealing with potential challenges to public health posed by the Trump administration.
鈥淭he idea being that because there are so many unknowns from the federal level, we don't know what we're going to have to protect against,鈥� Elliott said, 鈥渁nd that using an entire day for the public hearing [on the medical aid in dying bill] would not be a good use of our time.鈥�
Elliott, a member of the committee, said he had pushed back on that notion.
Elliott said he believed the bill would ultimately pass and become law in 海角换妻 in some future legislative session.
鈥淲hat I find with this bill specifically is that when people do see family members or loved ones start going through this process, minds do get changed, which is why the idea has a in 海角换妻,鈥� Elliott said.
鈥淚t's not a matter of if this bill gets passed,鈥� Elliott said. 鈥淚t's just a matter of when.鈥�
