Florida non-profit calls for medical aid in dying law
A Florida non-profit organization is pushing for a law to allow people with terminal illnesses to die on their own terms.
The effort comes after police say 76-year-old Ellen Gilland shot and killed her husband inside a Daytona Beach hospital as part of a planned mercy killing. Investigators say the woman made a pact with her husband to kill him if his condition worsened.
The plan to kill her husband then herself had been in the works for weeks, but after shooting him in the head, investigators say Gilland couldn’t go through with the rest of the plan.
Now, the group “Florida Death with Dignity” is pushing for a “medical aid in dying” law. They say Floridians with a terminal illness should be allowed the same autonomy and individual freedom while dying as they enjoyed while living.
Right now, 10 states have medical aid in dying statutes, as well as Montana where it was made legal by way of a 2009 state Supreme Court ruling. However, no such statute exists in Florida.
