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Resident urges 'death with dignity' law change after father’s decline; another commenter presses for committee transparency
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Summary
At Livingston County’s public comment period, Laurie Cowan described her father’s deterioration from Parkinson’s with Lewy body dementia and urged Michigan law change to allow terminally ill people to end their lives peacefully; Stephanie Booth urged videotaping of committee meetings and called for removal of a committee chair.
During the board’s first call to the public, Laurie Cowan of Dexter Township recounted her father’s progression from Parkinson’s disease with Lewy body dementia and urged a change in Michigan law to allow terminally ill individuals the option of a peaceful death. Cowan said her father told her he had "stockpiled some pills" and later "begged me to help him die," and she said she could not legally assist him: "I wish I could, but I can't because I would go to prison." She asked the board to support "death with dignity" legal changes so terminal patients have the option to avoid prolonged suffering.
Stephanie Booth of the City of Howell, who was listed on the public-comment roster, also addressed the board. Booth urged signatures requesting that a chairperson be removed from the FAM committee and argued that committee proceedings should be videotaped because they are funded by taxpayers. Booth also criticized what she called a mischaracterization in prior discussion of an opioid-settlement issue and recommended a book she said sheds light on drug flows.
The transcript records these comments as part of the public-comment period; no board response or formal action on either request was recorded during the meeting. Cowan framed her remarks as a personal plea and policy ask directed at state law; Booth framed her remarks as calls for local transparency and leadership changes. No official reply or follow-up motion appears in the public record captured by the transcript.
