Medical aid in dying bill fails in Maryland Senate

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help failed in the Maryland Senate on a tie vote Wednesday.

The 47-member chamber split 23-23 on whether to advance the bill. Sen. Obie Patterson, a Democrat, was present, but decided not to vote.

“I think I researched it,” Patterson said, when asked by reporters why he declined to vote on a high-profile bill that gained considerable attention in the legislative session. “I talked with folks, and my decision today was not to cast a vote, but I think I did my job. I did not relinquish my responsibility to thoroughly review all of the concerns I had about the bill, and at the end of the day, I just felt that I could not cast a vote.”

After several years of trying to pass a bill, a measure to allow terminally ill adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs passed the House earlier this month. The bill required that a physician certify that the person has the capacity to make the decision, and the prescription could only be self-administered.

The legislation went through significant changes in a Senate committee, compared to the House bill. For example, the Senate panel stripped out provisions allowing doctors to have immunity from lawsuits. Patients only would have been eligible, if they had six months to live, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.

Sen. Will Smith, a Democrat who sponsored the Senate bill, said he looked forward to continue working on the issue in the future.

“This still represents tremendous progress,” said Smith, a Navy reservist who is headed to Kabul, Afghanistan, after reporting for duty Friday.

Sen. Stephen Hershey, an Eastern Shore Republican, said he opposed the bill. He said many questions remained about how it would be implemented.

“There were too many gaps and too many things that I think at the end of the day would have made it more problematic to enforce,” Hershey told reporters.

Kim Callinan, CEO of a national organization called Compassion & Choices, led a campaign to pass the bill. She said she’s confident Maryland will build on the progress made this year.

“This temporary setback in Maryland is deeply disappointing to our brave, seriously ill advocates,” Callinan said. “But we are confident that it is just a matter of time before a version of this legislation similar to the House-passed bill, which is based on proven laws in eight other jurisdictions, becomes law.”

Laws allowing medical aid in dying are legal in seven states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — as well as the District of Columbia.