Maryland committees hear hours of testimony on House Bill 1328, End of Life Option Act

A joint hearing of the House Health and Government Operations Committee and the Judiciary Committee examined House Bill 1328, the End of Life Option Act, which would let mentally capable adults with a terminal diagnosis obtain and self-administer prescribed medication to end their life.

Sponsor Delegate Terry Hill, a physician, opened her presentation by framing the bill as an option for a narrow group of patients and stressing patient autonomy. "I highly value life, and I highly value life with dignity and the dignity of death," Hill said, and she described the bill's principal safeguards, including oral and written requests, witness rules, a consulting-physician review and a mental-health referral when capacity is in question.

Why it matters: proponents said the bill offers terminally ill patients a protected way to avoid what some described as prolonged, undignified dying; opponents said the measure risks coercion of vulnerable people, could complicate involuntary psychiatric-treatment laws and would create operational problems for hospice providers and pharmacies.

What the bill requires (as described by the sponsor): a qualified patient must make an initial oral request to an attending physician, then a second oral request at least 15 days later; the patient must also submit a signed written request witnessed by two people (only one witness may be a relative and the attending…