Advocates For and Against Medical Aid in Dying Speak Out

Those for and against Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) gathered in Hartford Wednesday morning. 

Right now, the practice is prohibited in Connecticut.  

But a proposed bill, if passed, it would give terminally ill, mentally competent patients the right to choose physician-assisted death.  

People on both sides of the matter spoke passionately Wednesday in Hartford about where they stand. 

Those in support, shared personal stories of their loved ones' final days and why they've tried for many years to get this legislation passed in Connecticut. 

“I want you to imagine looking into your beloved mother's eyes while she pleads with you for over two weeks, ‘It will be over soon. It's okay. Let go,” said MAID advocate Jennifer Barahona, of Fairfield. 

Barahona’s mother was diagnosed with ALS.

“She lost her ability to speak first, and then rapidly every motor function. Then at the end, there was nothing we could do but have her blink once for yes and twice for no,” said Barahona. 

MAID legislation would come with several requirements. The person would have to be terminally ill, 18 years or older, and have less than six months to live.  

The state would also require two written requests from the patient to the physician.  

Advocates like Barahona say it would give patients the right to end their suffering and pain. 

“In 2018, my mother broke her back and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma,” said Clare Philips, of Hartford. “It got to the point where she was unable to stand and do things she enjoyed. On June 3, 2021, my mom crawled out to our backyard shed and shot herself.” 

Those against the bill says it's about mental health and ensuring there are resources available and accessible to all patients. 

“Pain is a very small fraction of why people choose it. Most are from mental health reasons. So, we should be focusing on mental health support and other support so people can live their lives to the fullest,” said Chris Healy, a member of Connecticut Alliance Against Assisted Suicide. 

Others say the bill would have a negative impact on people with disabilities. 

Nancy Alisberg, a disability rights lawyer at the time, was representing a 14-year-old boy who developed a severe form of leukemia. The boy also had an intellectual disability.  

She says the doctors didn’t want to treat him as they thought he wouldn’t understand why he was suffering from the chemotherapy and that treatment would impair what residual intellectual capacity he had. 

“What this incident showed me was that his life, as a person with an intellectual disability, was not worth living,” said Alisberg. “I feel that the laws on assisted suicide do not protect people with disabilities, and that they are going to be put into positions where they are being made to feel that they are an onus to their family, an onus to society, and they might as well just commit suicide. For that reason, I came to oppose physician-assisted suicide.” 

MAID bills have been introduced in the state more than a dozen times since 1994 without it becoming a law.

But advocates remain steadfast in their approach. 

“I advocate because no one should have to go through what my mother and family endured. I want a choice, the people of Connecticut have spoken, and they want a choice,” said Barahona. 

If passed, Connecticut would join ten other states and Washington, D.C. where medical aid in dying is legal.