By Daniel Menefee
For Maryland Reporter
After two years of dead ends, Maryland lawmakers have again introduced measures to give terminally ill Marylanders the right to die using doctor prescribed medications.
The nation’s oldest end-of-life advocacy group, Compassion & Choices, brought nearly 200 supporters to Annapolis on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to pass the “Richard E. Israel and Roger ‘Pip’ Moyer End of Life Options Act.”
“As a physician I’ve always seen my vocation as an obligation to work with my patients as honestly and professionally as I can, respecting their sense of autonomy, their values and their priorities in order to use my skills to support them throughout their life,” Del. Terri Hill, M.D., a Columbia Democrat and physician, told the crowd of supporters and fellow lawmakers. “When that support is to cure or mediate, that’s terrific, but my obligation to support them and respect them doesn’t end when I run out of options.”