Massachusetts could become the fourth state to legalize elective human euthanasia for the terminally ill under a proposed bill whose author succumbed to the ravages of cancer before he could make his case to the Legislature.
“He fought this battle (with cancer) for five solid years. But at the end, you don’t want to be in pain. You don’t want your family to see you in pain. He thought this would be the best way,” said Eileen Lipkind, whose husband of 38 years, Albert Lipkind, 62, of Stoughton, died four months ago today from colon cancer that had spread to his liver.
At the State House tomorrow afternoon, the Joint Committee on the Judiciary will begin debating whether to follow the leads of Oregon, Washington state and Montana and implement a so-called Death With Dignity law. It would allow Bay State residents for whom time and luck is running out to choose to end their suffering by ingesting a prescribed medical cocktail.
In Oregon, 401 terminally ill patients have chosen to die on their terms since 1997, according to the Death With Dignity National Center.
Professor Paul Spiers of Danvers, who teaches forensic neuropsychology at Boston University, became an advocate of the right-to-die movement
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