NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Longtime civil rights activist John Jay Hooker pleaded before a state Senate committee for a bill to allow physician-assisted suicide.
The 84-year-old former Democratic nominee for governor has terminal cancer. He showed up at the Tuesday meeting of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee in a wheelchair and at times struggled to catch his breath. But he spoke passionately about the issue, calling it “the most important thing I’ve ever done.”
Opponents were equally passionate, warning that allowing doctors to prescribe terminally ill patients lethal doses of pills could lead to abuse by caregivers who no longer want to take care of ailing relatives.
Currently, Oregon, Washington and Vermont have laws allowing physician-assisted suicide. Lawmakers promised to take up the Tennessee bill when the legislature reconvenes in January.
TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press
