Assisted Suicide Bill Approved, Murphy says will sign it

Earlier today both the state assembly and Senate in NJ voted to approve "the medical aid in dying for the Terminally I'll Act" and governor Phill Murphy said he will sign it into law. Opponents argued there is no way for a doctor to determine when most people are going to die. Rabbonim have issued a psak calling it Shefichas Domim.

 The bill contains numerous safeguards and procedures to ensure the integrity and safety of the process, including:



 A patient must have a prognosis of six months or less to live in order to request and be prescribed medication under the bill. The bill defines a “terminal disease” as an irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will result in a patient’s death within six months.

 It would cover: 1) an adult resident of New Jersey; 2) who is capable and has been determined by the patient’s attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease; and 3) has voluntarily expressed a wish to die.

 The bill would require patients suffering from a terminal disease to first verbally request a prescription from their attending physician, followed by a second verbal request at least 15 days later.

 The attending physician would have to offer the patient a chance to rescind the request. A consulting physician would then be called upon to certify the original diagnosis and reaffirm the patient is capable of making a decision. It would also require one request in writing signed by two witnesses.

 A valid request for medication must be signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two individuals who, in the patient’s presence, attest that the patient is capable and is acting voluntarily to sign the request.

 Only patients would be permitted to administer the drug to themselves. At least one of the witnesses must be a person who is not: 1) a relative of the patient; 2) entitled to any portion of the estate of the patient; 3) an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility where the patient is receiving treatment, or 4) the patient’s physician.

 The bill requires that the patient’s attending physician recommend that the patient participate in a consultation concerning additional treatment opportunities, palliative care, comfort care, hospice care and pain control options, and provide the patient with a referral to a health care professional qualified to discuss these options.

 The attending physician would be required to document the recommendation in the patient’s medical record, and indicate whether the patient chose to participate in the consultation and whether the patient is receiving palliative, comfort or hospice care.