Is Physician-Assisted Suicide Gaining Momentum in Virginia?

This guest post is courtesy of Ryan Kotrch, Regent Law 2L, and current Wills, Trusts & Estates student:

The short answer is yes; however, it is a small amount of momentum. Nationally, eight states have death with dignity/physician-assisted suicide statutes plus the District of Columbia. Montana has also legalized physician-assisted suicide through a court decision. Baxter v. State, 2009 MT 449, 354 Mont. 234, 224 P.3d 1211. Sixteen other states, including Virginia, considered, or are considering death with dignity legislation this year.

This issue is pretty new to the Commonwealth. It first came to light in 2018 when the Virginia Joint Commission on Healthcare published a report on the issue, “Medical Aid in Dying: A Final Report.” After the report, there was a period of public comment followed by a 10 to 6 vote on November 7, 2018, to take no further action on the issue this year.

Following the Commission’s report, Delegate Kaye Kory (D-Fairfax) in 2019 introduced HB 2713, the Virginia Death with Dignity Act. The bill was referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice but was left in committee after Crossover Day came and went. Crossover Day is the last day where both the House of Delegates and Senate can vote on their own bills. After Crossover Day, lawmakers can only consider bills passed in the other chamber or budget related items. What is surprising, though, is that Delegate Kory was not alone in her support for this legislation. Her bill in 2019 had Del. Hope (D-Arlington) and Del. Rasoul (D-Roanoke) as co-patrons.

Delegate Kory was back in 2020 with HB1649, the Virginia Medical Aid in Dying Act. This time the committee took up the bill. However, they decided to continue the bill to 2021 by a voice vote, effectively killing the legislation for the year. Interestingly, Delegate Hope & Rasoul did not co-patron the bill while Delegate Guzman (D-Prince William) did.

While the support of four delegates is by no means enough to pass a death with dignity/physician-assisted suicide bill, it is four more members of the legislature than supporters of this legislation had in 2018. I will be paying attention to the Courts of Justice Committee next year to see if any more legislators get on board, and you should too.