A committee of the Vermont Senate will take up legislation this week that would allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with the help of a doctor.
Called "death with dignity" by supporters" and "physician-assisted suicide" by opponents, the legislation has come up before, failing in the Vermont House in 2008.
Supporters say they’re encouraged to try again in part due to the fact that Gov. Peter Shumlin supports the legislation. Former Gov. Jim Douglas opposed it.
But it’s still far from certain to pass. Both Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell and Sen. Richard Sears, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, oppose it.