HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Connecticut lawmakers are declining to consider a bill that would permit physicians to prescribe medication to help a dying patient end his or her own life.
The legislature's Public Health Committee faced a deadline of Friday to vote on the bill. Supporters said they removed it from the agenda to avoid lengthy discussion or filibuster that could jeopardize other vital bills.
Supporters said they would reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session.
The bill would have made Connecticut the third state in the country, after Oregon and Washington, to allow what is sometimes referred to as assisted suicide.
Danbury State Senator Mike McLachlan says this bill tells Connecticut residents that suicide is an acceptable solution to life’s hardships. He calls it a dangerous precedent that will legitimize suicide.
McLachlan says in states where assisted suicide has been approved suicide rates have increased. 13 years after assisted suicide passed in Oregon, the suicide rate was 41% higher than the national average.
