This proposed law would allow a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient’s request, to end that patient’s life.

To qualify, a patient would have to be an adult resident who:
> is medically determined to be mentally capable of making and communicating health care decisions,
> has been diagnosed by attending and consulting physicians as having an incurable, irreversible disease that will, within reasonable medical judgment, cause death within six months, and
> voluntarily expresses a wish to die and has made an informed decision.

The patient would ingest the medicine in order to cause death. The patient, directly or through a person familiar with the patient’s manner of communicating, would have to orally communicate to a physician on two occasions, 15 days apart, a request for the medication. At the time of the second request, the physician would have to offer the patient an opportunity to rescind the request.

The patient would also have to sign a standard form, in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom is not a relative, a beneficiary of the patient’s estate, or an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility where the patient receives treatment or lives.