“Democracy is about choice,” John Jay Hooker forcefully reminded me in one of our recent chats. “The ultimate choice is the decision to leave your life.”
Always a passionate man, those who talk with Hooker these days can feel an added urgency in their conversation, as if he wants every second in his life to provide momentum to the mission to get a death with dignity law passed before his energy is inevitably consumed by cancer.
The momentum is building.
Death with dignity legislation
The House health subcommittee will take up death with dignity at its meeting Tuesday when Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, introduces an amendment to his caption bill, HB 1040.
“I plan to move HB 1040, which would allow individuals with a terminal illness to make their own decisions about end-of-life care,” Fitzhugh said last week. Fitzhugh agreed to sponsor the bill for Hooker, who is scheduled to testify at the committee meeting.
“There are legitimate concerns on both sides of this debate, but for me it’s an issue of individual liberty.
“When modern medicine offers no more comfort and no cure, all people should have the right in consultation with their doctor, their family, their spiritual adviser or whomever to make an individual determination about how best to proceed.” (continue reading)