Legislative Actions
Public Support for MAID Continues Steady Growth
Calling all Arizona Physicians to Sign Letter to Legislators
Kem's Open Office Donate for Dignity & Your Gift will be Matched!
Legislative Actions by Dwight Moore, Ph.D., Chair
The legislature is back in session and we have two bills, SB 1486 sponsored by Senator Stephanie Stahl Hamilton and HB 2762 sponsored by Representative Chris Mathis. The official name of the bill is “Terminally ill individuals, end of life options”. SB 1486 has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services and Rules Committees. HB 2762 has been assigned to three House committees: Rules, Judiciary, and Health and Human Services Committees.
We have established Action Teams in each legislative district and begun “Action Alerts” to influence the legislators. For example, we have sent thank you notes to the bill sponsors and cosponsors for their support of Medical Aid in Dying and inquiries to all other legislators asking if they will support MAID.
Is joining an Action Team not a good fit for you? You can still make your voice heard. Click here to find which legislative district you live in https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/, then find the e-mails of the Senator and two House members for your district by clicking here https://www.azleg.gov/memberroster/. When you have identified your three legislators, email them your version of this message:
“A new 2022 Arizona poll shows support for medical aid in dying has increased in Arizona to 60%, while only opposed by 13%. State-wide, a majority of all groups of gender, age, political party, political ideology (e.g. liberal, conservative), ethnicity, education level, income level, and geographic areas of the state support medical aid in dying. Even those identifying as conservatives support it by a 2 to 1 margin.
HB 2762 and SB 1486, Terminally ill individuals, end of life options, are in the legislative pipeline, and we encourage you to support their passage. As one of your constituents, I believe in Medical Aid in Dying.”
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We at Arizona End of Life Options want a choice at the end of our lives to die with dignity if we so choose. If you also wish for that choice, then take action now.
Public Support for MAID Continues Steady Growth By Stu Burge, Volunteer
“My mother begged to die. There was no hope of recovery. There was nothing more they could do to ease her pain or to keep her comfortable. She died suffering,” says renowned journalist Diane Rehm in her groundbreaking book When My Time Comes. Her mother was dying from kidney disease.
“My passionate belief in the right-to-die started while watching my mother in her agony, feeling so angry that doctors could do nothing to help ease her way into the inevitable.”
Tragically, in 2014, Diane’s husband, John, also died, after enduring nine years of the relentlessly destructive effects of Parkinson’s Disease. “John hoped to receive some medical assistance in ending his life,” Diane recalls, “but, like in most states, that option was unavailable to him in Maryland. I rage at a system that would not allow John to be helped toward his own death.”
Fortunately, in the years since Diane became a vocal supporter of Medical Aid in Dying, public acceptance of MAID has continued growing. Today, MAID is a legal option for 74 million people in 10 US states and the District of Columbia. So, public acceptance is definitely trending in the right direction, but still excludes residents of Arizona and 39 other states.
For example, a 2020 nationwide Gallup poll showed that 74 percent of adults agree that aid in dying should be permitted by law. Closer to home, results of a new statewide poll of Arizona voters conducted in January 2022 show that fully 60 percent of Arizona voters support Medical Aid in Dying Legislation, while only 13 percent say they are opposed.
As a friend of Arizona End-of-Life Options, you will be pleased to know that this important new Arizona survey was funded in part by financial support from people exactly like you. That’s why we say you are the key to the future. Solid statistical evidence, like that provided by our Arizona survey, is one of the best weapons we have in overcoming widespread confusion and misinformation about aid in dying. And as we continue to spread the word and knock down barriers to understanding, the closer we get to convincing members of our state legislature that they have an obligation to acknowledge the will of their constituents.
A detailed analysis of the survey results is available in 2022 AZ poll.
Calling all Arizona Physicians to Sign Letter to Legislators!
In your medical experience,
have you watched one of your
patients die badly?
Have you ever thought:
There must be a better way?
Many of your medical colleagues are working to educate and influence legislators in Arizona to legalize Medical Aid in Dying to give the terminally ill the choice to end suffering whenthe dyingpatientdetermines it is time.
If you are a physician, working or not, active or retired, and you want to help get Medical Aid in Dying legalized in Arizona, add your name to our letter to Legislators. To read the letter and add your name: Click Here
Kem's Open Office with Kem Ellis, AZELO Volunteer Coordinator
Now that our 2022 medical aid in dying bills have been introduced in the Arizona State Legislature, we'll spend some time reviewing the action alerts the Action Teams are pursuing. Already action team members are contacting their legislators to tell them why they need to pass medical aid in dying for Arizona residents.
If you have questions, want updates, or just want to learn more about how to make your voice heard, join us on Monday morning, February 21st! Here's your Zoom invitation link:
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