"Medical Aid-in-Dying" in Massachusetts: 

What Path Ahead Given Fundamental Moral and Policy Disagreements?

"Death with dignity", "physician-assisted suicide" — no matter the terminology, there is fundamental moral and political disagreement about whether or not it should be legal for a physician to prescribe a lethal medication for a terminally-ill patient.

In Massachusetts, an intensely contested "Death with Dignity" ballot initiative narrowly failed in 2012. A court case will soon consider whether or not a terminally ill patient has a state constitutional right to obtain a lethal prescription. The legislature is actively considering an "End of Life Options Act" that would make that "option of last resort" legally available. The Massachusetts Medical Society is currently reviewing whether to reaffirm or change its longstanding policy of opposition to legalization.

At the same time, there is near-universal agreement that in the Commonwealth there are serious and persistent shortcomings in end-of-life care generally. In an era when divisiveness and polarization seriously impede progress on so many pressing social issues, how can we as a Commonwealth show it is possible to both ensure respect for each other — despite our profound and passionately expressed moral and political differences — and craft a path forward toward improving end-of-life care for everyone in the Commonwealth?

View a livestream of the event here.

Panelists: 

Representative Denise Provost 
Massachusetts State Representative for Somerville

The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir 
Secretary of Health and Social Services, Archdiocese of Boston, Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Robert Quinan, Esq. 
Managing Attorney, Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts

James Sabin, MD 
Vice Chair, AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs 

Henry Dorkin, MD, FAAP
President, Massachusetts Medical Society

Moderator:

Lachlan Forrow, MD 
Chair, Massachusetts Expert Panel on End of Life Care (2009-2011)
Director of Ethics Programs, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School