While states like New York are actively advancing assisted suicide legislation, Republicans in Nevada are working hard to quash any such effort.
On Friday, the Nevada Legislature put the brakes on a controversial bill, Assembly Bill 346, that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill, mentally competent adults with six months or less to live. Before it was shelved, the legislation already had a rocky journey.
It barely passed the Assembly with a 23-19 vote. But it hit a wall in the Senate as it failed to advance past a critical committee deadline of last Friday. Assemblymember Joe Dalia, the Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, told News 4 Fox that he predicted the bill’s failure — partly because he lacked confidence in Senate support, and partly because state Governor Joe Lombardo (R) had promised to veto the measure if it ever made it to his desk.
“We’re not deterred,” Dalia said on behalf of the Democrats pushing the effort.
Despite Dalia’s confidence, state Republicans have proven to be equally as passionate about blocking his legislation. In fact, Friday’s development marks the sixth time since 2017 that assisted suicide legislation has been shut down. And should a bill related to this issue pass the Senate committee in the future, Lombardo’s promise remains intact.
Sarah Davenport-Smith of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund explained to LifeNews, “The bill started out in the Assembly and the first hearing was through a non-traditional ad-hoc committee of hand-picked proponents of assisted suicide.” From there, she added, “The rules of public testimony and a fair hearing did not apply. AB 346, unfortunately, was amended and passed the Assembly in a 23-19 vote.” But after this, Davenport-Smith said that the NV Coalition and advocates came together to help score Friday’s pro-life victory.
As she put it, “Our NV Coalition and fellow advocates wasted no time in constantly meeting with key Senators, sending in emails, reaching outside of our Coalition to pull in more influence, and writing excellent op-eds and letters to the editor in various newspapers. Their work paid off! In the end, the votes were not even present in the Senate committee.” Looking ahead, she emphasized resilience. “We know that pro-assisted suicide advocates won’t be giving up, so we certainly won’t quit.”
Dr. Kirk Bronander, an internal medicine physician, also weighed in. In an op-ed published in the Reno Gazette Journal, he noted that, “once again, the proponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or ‘medical aid in dying’ have brought forth another bill to the Legislature trying to legalize this dangerous practice in Nevada.” He went on to explain how the bill “has many flaws, just like the laws that legalize this in other states.”
For instance, “Eligibility will be open to anyone who has been diagnosed with a terminal condition and are likely to die within six months without treatment.” The problem with this, the doctor argued, is that [the] timing of death is “difficult to determine.” And the reality is that “inaccurate diagnoses or prognoses coupled with physician-assisted suicide will result in patients dying that may have years of a good quality life remaining.”
In addition to this issue, Bronander emphasized that “PAS laws allow physicians to diagnose a terminal condition, give the prognosis and prescribe a deadly treatment.” He warned that “having a second doctor or provider sign off is not a safeguard” since it’s “easy to find one other prescriber to agree with the prescribing physician.” Ultimately, he asked, “Do you trust that every doctor has the patient’s best interest at heart? I do not.”
In his conclusion, Bronander advised caution. “Remember, it will always be cheaper for an insurance company to pay for this over expensive life-sustaining treatments,” he wrote. “The safeguards that will be touted by proponents are inadequate making it easy for abuses to occur with no ability to discover the abuse since the only victim and witness will be dead. I urge you to look into the facts and think about the unintended consequences of this bill. Let’s work to give people more care at the end of life but let’s refuse to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Nevada.”
