A Democrat member of the General Assembly introduced a bill that would make euthanasia legal in Tennessee.
HB 1710 “creates a process whereby an adult suffering from a terminal disease may request medication for the purpose of ending the adult’s life in a humane and dignified manner if certain requirements are met,” according to the bill’s summary.
The law is billed as the “right to die.”
It was introduced by State Representative Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) (pictured above) and says that people “capable” of making the decision should be allowed to end their own lives.
“An adult who is capable, is a resident of this state, and has been determined by an attending physician and a consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who has voluntarily expressed the wish to die, may make a written request for medication for the purpose of ending the adult’s life in a humane and dignified manner in accordance with this part,” the bill says in part.
“Capable” is defined in the bill as “the opinion of a court or in the opinion of the patient’s attending physician, consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, a patient has the ability to make and communicate healthcare decisions to healthcare providers, including communication through persons familiar with the patient’s manner of communicating if those persons are available…”
Euthanasia was legalized in Canada in 2016, and the practice is rapidly growing.
According to data provided by the Canadian government, euthanasia deaths increased 31.2 percent between 2021 and 2022, accounting for more than four percent of all Canadian deaths during that time period.
Between 2016 and 2022, 44,958 Canadians have chosen to end their own lives medically.
The number of physicians carrying out Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) procedures is on the rise, too.
“The total number of unique practitioners providing MAID during 2022 was 1,837, up 19.1% from 1,542 in 2021,” the report said. “95.0% of all MAID practitioners were physicians, while 5.0% were nurse practitioners.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
If Dems get the power they want, many people will probably want this right
Bob Freeman is a hateful, divisive person and a poor example of a legislator. He should be replaced.
Only a dem would make this a priority. I wish they would practice what they preach.
Where is this guy from?? Canada.??? He would surely fit in better in Canada or Cuba. Yeah Canada started out their euthanasia plan (MAID) using the same words as this fool and now they are actually offering euthanasia instead of needed medical care. God decides when it is time to leave this earth not this fool.