New Mexico Senate passes medically assisted suicide bill
CEDAR ATTANASIO, Associated Press / Report for America
March 15, 2021
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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) The New Mexico state Senate has passed a law that would remove criminal and civil liability for medical professionals who assist in the death of terminally ill patients who have chosen to end their life.
The Elizabeth Whitfield End-of-Life Options Act is named for a former New Mexico judge who testified in support for a right to die for the terminally ill in 2017. She died of cancer the following year.
“She was a judge who could make a decision. And when she did so she did with compassion,” said Democratic Sen. Daniel Ivy-Soto, of Santa Fe, a lawyer who argued in front of Judge Whitfield and later counted her as a constituent. “She said ‘I implore you to give me the choice that is right for me.’”
LAS CRUCES - A bill that would allow health care providers to give aid in dying to terminally ill patients passed the New Mexico House Health and Human Services Committee after an emotional three-hour debate Friday, Jan. 29, in which legislators discussed their own personal stories of caring for friends and family in their final days.
House Bill 47 is named for Elizabeth Whitfield, a former district court judge who suffered through a lengthy battle with cancer over many years. She went to the Legislature in 2017 advocating for legislation allowing for aid in dying, but died last year, before seeing that bill passed into law.