LINCOLN — A lopsided vote against allowing physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill adults Monday was no surprise to the bill’s sponsor.
But State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who introduced Legislative Bill 1056, predicted there will be a time when physicians’ aid in dying is accepted in Nebraska.
“It is on the way. It is inevitable,” he told colleagues.
For this year, however, Nebraska lawmakers refused to move the bill out of the Judiciary Committee, where it had stalled.
Twenty-eight senators voted against Chambers’ motion to pull the bill, nine senators voted for the motion and six abstained.
The vote represents the end of the road for the Patient Choice at End of Life Act this year.
Chambers began the debate by acknowledging that he knew the bill did not have enough support to advance. He said he was fulfilling his promise to bring the issue up for debate.
People are also reading…
He vowed to continue working on the issue if he is re-elected this year.
“This, for me, I’m sure is going to be the first step in a very long and arduous journey,” Chambers said.
LB 1056 would have made Nebraska the sixth state to legalize what opponents call “assisted suicide” and supporters term “death with dignity.”
The bill was patterned after an Oregon law that allows a doctor to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill people with less than six months to live. Such patients would have to self-administer the drugs.
The bill included several safeguards aimed at ensuring that the people seeking a physician’s help to end their lives were mentally competent and doing so voluntarily.
But Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, a retired hospital administrator, spoke against the idea. He said that there have been great advances made in hospice care and palliative care, which can ease the dying process.
He also raised concerns about liability with an aid-in-dying law. He said he has experienced cases in which families agreed on providing only comfort care for a dying member, then later sued the hospital for not doing everything possible for that person.
Sen. Bill Kintner of Omaha also opposed the bill. He said people who are dying need support, not a means to end their lives.
“I don’t think that we need to play God,” he said. “We help people live. We don’t help people die.”
Chambers, however, said a majority of the public would support legislation like LB 1056.
He read from a letter written by former State Sen. Dave Newell of Omaha, who is in the advanced stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Newell said that having the option of taking life-ending medication would allow him to “be the captain of my own ship” rather than slowly suffocating as his disease progresses.
“I am not afraid to die. I am more afraid of suffering,” he said. “I don’t see any value in pointless, useless suffering.”
Contact the writer: 402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
*******
How they voted
Nebraska lawmakers rejected a bill that would have allowed physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill adults. Here’s the vote on advancing the bill:
Yes (9): Bloomfield, Chambers, Cook, K. Haar, Howard, Kolowski, Morfeld, Pansing Brooks, Schumacher
No (28): Bolz, Brasch, Crawford, Ebke, Friesen, Garrett, Gloor, Hadley, Hilkemann, Hughes, Johnson, Kintner, Kolterman, Larson, Lindstrom, McCoy, Mello, Murante, Riepe, Scheer, Schilz, Schnoor, Seiler, Smith, Stinner, Sullivan, Watermeier, Williams
Abstain (6): Baker, Campbell, Craighead, Fox, Hansen, McCollister
Absent (6): Coash, Davis, Groene, B. Harr, Krist, Kuehn
* * *
Additional information on the Legislature
