CLEVELAND, Ohio — In a growing number of states, terminally ill patients now have a legal option that would have been unthinkable to many Americans a generation ago: a doctor’s prescription that allows them to end their own life.
The question is one of the most personal in modern health policy: Should a mentally competent, terminally ill person be allowed — with state approval and medical oversight — to choose the timing of their death?
Supporters call it “medical aid in dying,” a last-resort option for those facing unbearable suffering. Opponents call it physician-assisted suicide and warn it could put vulnerable people at risk…