A state lawmaker wants New Hampshire to become the first state to legalize assisted suicide by an act of the Legislature.
State Rep. Charles Weed’s bill would let terminally ill patients obtain lethal prescriptions, with safeguards to prevent abuses. The 65-year-old lawmaker says he hopes to have that option some day himself if he chooses. Ellen Kolb of Cornerstone Policy Research, a conservative think tank, calls the bill a recipe for elder abuse.
Oregon approved assisted suicide ballot questions in 1994 and 1997 and Washington state followed suit last year.