RICHMOND, Va., — Barbara Green counts herself as one of the lucky ones.
She’s among the 10 percent of stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients who have lived more than a year when doctors in July 2022 gave her 8 to 11 months to live.
Green, who lives in Northern Virginia, fears she may have to move to one of 10 states or Washington D.C. that currently allows for medical assisted suicide, also known as medical aid in dying.
“Most people die really miserable, horrible suffering deaths. With with pancreatic cancer, that’s a real possibility. I don’t really want that. I want to take control of the situation at that point and make my own decisions,” Green told CBS 6.
House Bill 858 and Senate Bill 280 would give mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the option to obtain a doctor’s prescription for medication that would peacefully end their lives.
The legislation would require that the medication be administered by the patients themselves.
This morning, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Health Subcommittee approved SB 280 .