An oft-cited rationale for imposing a waiting period on gun purchases is it will curb their use in suicides. The thinking goes that despair and desperation will give way to hope with the dawn of a new day.
How ironic a bill now in the Legislature to expand Colorado’s physician-assisted suicide law would do the opposite — shortening the waiting period for ending one’s life with the help of a medical professional. It’s as if the bill’s backers don’t really want an ailing patient to give it too much thought.
And reducing the wait time from 15 days to 48 hours isn’t all Senate Bill 24-068 would do. It extends the ability to prescribe the necessary lethal drugs beyond MDs to advanced practice registered nurses. What is literally a life-or-death judgment no longer would be restricted to a doctor’s discernment.
Most alarming, the pending legislation eliminates the requirement that only Colorado residents may invoke the law. That opens it up to visitors from the rest of the country. Of the nine other states that permit medically assisted suicide, only one other has lifted its residency restrictions.