Nearly 100 Testify on Death With Dignity Act at the Montana Legislature
February 11, 2013 4:55 PM 
Big crowds turned out today February 6, at a Montana Senate Judiciary committee meeting on Senate Bill 220, also known as the “Death With Dignity Act.”
The bill would allow Montana residents to request an assisted suicide procedure under certain conditions. Attorney and former state legislator Jim Shockley spoke against the bill arguing that it puts family heirs in a dangerous position of where they may offer “undue influence that they might use to cause their elderly relative, who might leave them something, to commit suicide with the help of a doctor.”
Jim Shockley:
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“Most people will accept palliation, hospice care, but there are some people who don’t want that.” Claimed the bill’s sponsor, Montana Senator Dick Barret of Missoula. “That was the case for example, with my mother. She could have gone to hospice, she could have continued to soldier on under palliative care, but that’s not what some people want and no matter what we think about that decision, we should respect it.”
According to Shockley, around 60 of individuals testified against the bill and 40 individuals voiced their support.
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