Supporters of aid-in-dying legislation say people who are terminally ill should have a choice when to end their suffering.
On Wednesday, dozens are expected to testify before the Judiciary Committee on a controversial bill that would allow Connecticut doctors to prescribe a lethal medication to people with terminal illnesses. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found 63 percent of residents support the idea.
We spoke to some residents who have a very personal connection to the issue.
Sara Myers lives in Connecticut and New York. A caregiver at her Manhattan apartment helped her answer the phone.
"Right now, I cannot walk," Myers said. "I have lost the use of my arms and my hands. Eventually, what happens, is it robs you of your ability to speak and to breathe." The "it" she's talking about is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Her health has deteriorated since she was diagnosed in 2010. "I didn't use to talk like this, so you can hear that I am losing my voice," she said.
Myers is bed-ridden now. Ultimately, without medical intervention, she said she will suffocate or die from respiratory failure.
Because there's no cure for the disease, Myers has thought many times about how her life will end. She and her family believe Connecticut should pass a law that would allow terminally ill patients to request their doctor prescribe a lethal drug that they could take on their own when they have less than six months to live.
Opponents say this bill would legalize "assisted suicide." Supporters say the bill would permit "aid in dying," applying only to people who are mentally competent.
Myers testified before committees of the General Assembly in recent years on similar legislation, and she plans to do it again. She bristles at opponents who call this suicide. "They're merely using language to incite fear. Suicide is an irrational act," she said.
Opponents say this bill would legalize "assisted suicide." Myers and other supporters say the bill would permit "aid in dying," and it only applies to people who are mentally competent. They know it's not a decision everyone would be comfortable making, but they say people who are terminally ill should have a choice when to end their suffering.
Jennifer Barahona of Fairfield said choice is something her mother, Barbara Donalds, a lifelong Catholic, would have supported. "She would not want to impose her belief on others, that others should have options; not everybody shares her or our faith or belief system," Barahona said. Her mother died from ALS in 2009. The disease progressed quickly, seven months from the time of the diagnosis to her mother entering hospice care. Near the end, her mother could only blink once or twice to yes-or-no questions. She communicated in this way to convey when she was ready to withhold nutrition.
Her mother's death did not come quickly. Barahona said her mother lingered for another two and a half weeks. "You know, in those early days after the feeding tube was withdrawn, she was in agony. She could no longer blink the yes or no answers," she said. "I just have the memory of her with these eyes gazing up at me from the hospital bed."
Barahona said she supports the legislation because she would not want her own children to experience what she did. "If, God forbid, I found myself in a similar position," she said, "I would certainly want that option."
There are many different groups that oppose the bill -- from advocates for the disabled, to religious groups, to doctors' associations.
The national non-profit group Compassion and Choices has been leading the lobbying effort in Connecticut. If the bill becomes law, Connecticut would join five other states that have laws allowing the terminally ill to take lethal medications to end their lives. Oregon was the first state to do so in 1997.
