Michigan House Democrats last month introduced a package of bills that would allow terminally ill patients to obtain life-ending medication, reopening a debate that once made the state the national epicenter of the assisted suicide controversy through the acts of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the 1990s. The legislation, called the “Death with Dignity Act,” would make Michigan the 15th jurisdiction to permit physician-assisted death, joining 14 states and the District of Columbia that collectively cover more than 100 million Americans.
The bills, announced in late April, would let adults with a diagnosis of six months or less to live request medication to end their lives. Patients would need to make two oral requests and one written request, and two physicians would have to confirm the diagnosis and the patient’s capacity to make the decision. The proposal mirrors laws enacted in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Vermont, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maine, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington, D.C., among others.
Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, a co-sponsor of the House package, said the legislation is about expanding medical autonomy. “The point … is not to shorten somebody’s life. It’s actually to shorten somebody’s death process,” Rheingans told Bridge Michigan. She added that the bills had been referred to the House Government Operations Committee, a move she said shows Republican leaders are not interested in taking up the issue. With Democrats in the legislative minority, Rheingans said her caucus has more time to focus on public education and advocacy.
Michigan’s history with physician-assisted death is freighted. In the 1990s, Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped more than 130 people die and was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 after administering a lethal injection on national television. The state’s previous legislative attempts to legalize the practice have foundered, and a 1998 ballot measure to allow assisted suicide was rejected by voters.
Opponents say the new bills lack adequate protections. Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, said assisted suicide “devalues the lives of people with disabilities” and could pressure vulnerable patients to end their lives. “Instead of addressing the root causes of why people seek to end their lives — such as depression, lack of access to quality care, or societal pressure — these bills offer death as a solution,” Marnon said.
Supporters, however, frame the legislation as a matter of personal control at the end of life. Matthew Bierlein, a Livingston County man with terminal cancer, said he supports the bill because he wants the option to “die on my own terms.” Geoff Sugarman, a spokesperson for the Death with Dignity National Center, said the Michigan measure would “allow terminally ill adults the option to die peacefully, at home, surrounded by loved ones.”
The legislation faces an uncertain path. While similar bills have been introduced in several states this year, Michigan’s Republican-controlled Legislature has shown little appetite for the measure, according to Rheingans. Supporters hope that public education campaigns during the minority session could build momentum for future legislative action.