Hearing Set On Mass. Doctor-Assisted Suicide Bill

A legislative committee will hear testimony at the Massachusetts State House on a bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide.

The joint Public Health Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the bill, which would apply to adults deemed mentally competent who have been told by doctors that they have less than six months to live. It would allow those people to ask doctors to prescribe them lethal doses of medication.

Massachusetts voters last year narrowly defeated a similar measure. Religious, medical and disability rights groups fought it, saying it was open to manipulation and relied on diagnoses that could be wrong.

Among those testifying in favor of the bill will be members of a nonprofit called Compassion and Choices that works to expand end-of-life choices. Opponents will include disability rights advocates.

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