NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — One Tennessee lawmaker believes terminally ill patients should have the right to die if they choose.
Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville, is sponsoring a bill to legalize medically assisted suicide this legislative session after a similar bill he carried last year failed to make it out of committee.
Medically assisted suicide is currently legal in 10 states and Washington D.C. The measure allows a physician to prescribe a terminally ill patient medication to end their life if they choose.
“It’s not for people who are in a dark place or having drug addiction problems or are mentally ill,” Rep. Freeman said. “These are people who are never going to get up and walk out of the hospital again, and we should be able to help them die with dignity.”
Rep. Freeman came up with the idea after some of his friends’ parents were diagnosed with terminal diseases and had to suffer through immense pain until the end of their lives. Then, he watched the same thing happen to his own grandmother.
“She looked at me one day and was like, ‘I’m ready to go,’ and her only solution was to stop eating and stop taking her medicine,” Rep. Freeman said.
Medically assisted suicide is currently a class D felony in Tennessee. Opponents argue it goes against a doctor’s promise to “do no harm,” and could promote suicide as a solution.
However, Rep. Freeman views it differently.
“These are people that are not going to get better; where medicine has done what it can for them, and we should allow them to pass peacefully as opposed to keeping them alive for another six months in pain,” he said.
Under Freeman’s bill, a patient would qualify for the end of life medication only if a physician has diagnosed them with a terminal illness and given them six or fewer months to live. The physician would be required to confirm the patient is of sound mind and was making the decision voluntarily. The patient would then make a written and signed request for the medication, which two individuals would be required to witness. The bill also includes informed consent requirements, counseling by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist if ordered by the physician, and an option to rescind the request at any time if the patient changes their mind.
“Somebody would come in and have a conversation with them to make sure this is actually what they want to do; that they’re not being coerced. There are tons of checks and balances,” Rep. Freeman said.
Freeman told NewsNation affiliate WKRN that hospice care providers he talked to about the bill were not opposed to it.
“Look at the facts. We give this benefit to our animals. We have animals at the end of their life and they’re in pain and we choose for them to have a graceful exit, and I think we should do the same for our loved ones,” he said.
