Dr. Roger Kligler sits in Suffolk Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass., during a hearing Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in a lawsuit filed by him seeking a judge’s ruling that current state law allows physicians to offer aid-in-dying medication to terminally ill adult residents who want the option to take it to peacefully to end unbearable suffering. (Jessica Rinaldi /The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
FALMOUTH – A Cape Cod doctor who is an advocate for medical aid in dying is praising a recent decision by the Massachusetts Medical Society to drop its stance of opposition.
Earlier this month, the society’s governing body voted to adopt a neutral position, which allows the organization to serve as a medical and scientific resource as part of legislative efforts.
“It’s going to be a game changer in so far as a lot of the people in the legislature listen to what Mass Medical has to say,” said Dr. Roger Kligler, a Falmouth resident with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer.
Kligler believes the society’s move from opposition to neutral will help lawmakers adopt the legislation for medical aid in dying.
The statewide organization says physicians shouldn’t be required to practice medical aid in dying if it violates their ethical principles.
State lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow people with incurable conditions who are likely to die within six months to request medication from their doctors that can be self-administered to bring about a peaceful death.
The bill includes provisions ensuring the patient is of sound mind.
Kligler said that while the society will remain neutral on the bill they will help physicians who want to participate if passed by the Legislature.
“They are going to work in supporting educational endeavors for doctors so that they understand what their obligations are under the law and how to deal with people at the end of life better than what we are doing presently,” Kligler said.
A medical aid in dying bill is before both the House and the Senate and a hearing was held in the Joint Committee on Public Health at the end of September.
For the legislation to survive it needs to be passed through committee to go before both chambers for a full vote.
“We are asking people who are in favor of this to contact the members of the Joint Committee on Public Health and ask them to release the legislation so that we can have a full discussion of this,” Kligler said.
The legislation is opposed by right-to-life groups and religious organizations.
Several states and the District of Columbia have already legalized the practice.
Kligler already believes medical aid in dying is legal in Massachusetts and is continuing a lawsuit, along with Dr. Alan Steinbach, of Woods Hole against top state prosecutors.
Lawyers for Kligler and Steinbach argue there is no state law declaring that medical aid in dying is a criminal act.
The defendants in the suit are Attorney General Maura Healey and Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe.
In June, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Mary Ames overruled a motion to dismiss by the defendants. The plaintiffs are also seeking an injunction prohibiting Healey or O’Keefe from prosecuting physicians who provide medical aid in dying.
The case is still in discovery.
Kliger said his cancer is incurable and will have to deal with medical aid in dying at the end of his life.
“There are lots of studies out there that show a lot of people are not comfortable and not doing well with end of life care,” Kligler said. “That people end up getting too much care – that people end up dying with uncontrolled pain. In spite of hospice and palliative care, there are people who are dying who are suffering.”
The practice would be optional for patients, physicians, and anyone involved in the process, including pharmacists.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.
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