FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 17, 2025
Contact: Caroline Klinger (302) 599-9705
DOVER — Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend and Representative Eric Morrison, legislation providing end-of-life options to terminally ill patients has passed the Senate and will move to Governor Meyer’s desk for signature. House Bill 140 would provide mentally capable adults in Delaware that have received a prognosis of six months or less to live, the choice to end their life through self-administered medication.
“House Bill 140 is about honoring the autonomy and humanity of those facing unimaginable suffering from terminal illness,” said Sen. Bryan Townsend. “This legislation ensures that Delawareans, in consultation with trusted medical professionals, have the option to choose a peaceful and compassionate end – one that reflects their values and preserves their dignity. This legislation exists due to the courage of patients, family members, and advocates who have shared deeply personal stories of love, loss, and suffering. I want to express my gratitude to those who have bravely come forward, and to my colleagues who have voted to respect the bodily autonomy of our fellow Delawareans.”
The bill’s language incorporates several provisions that ensure a patient’s choice to end his or her life is made independently and free of coercion:
- The attending qualified medical provider must inform the patient that they can change their mind at any time and must directly offer the patient the opportunity to do so.
- The patient must receive a second medical opinion confirming the terminal diagnosis, qualifying prognosis, and the patient’s capacity to make an independent and informed medical decision.
- If either medical provider suspects that the patient does not have decision making capacity, the patient will be required to undergo an additional mental health evaluation with a medical professional.
- Patients requesting medical aid in dying must submit two oral requests and a written request, which must be witnessed by at least two people who attest the patient is capable, acting voluntarily, and not being coerced or unduly influenced. At least one of the two witnesses can not be a family member or a beneficiary of the patient’s estate.
- Advanced age, disability, mental illness, and chronic health conditions do not qualify a patient for medical aid in dying.
“I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for voting to pass HB 140 today, and of course, former Representative Baumbach and the wonderful advocates with whom he spent the last 10 years meeting with stakeholders, educating the public, and ensuring that HB 140 would be able to meet the needs of those it intended to serve, while also containing all of the necessary safeguards,” said Rep. Eric Morrison, the House prime sponsor of HB 140. “HB 140 is supported by over 70% of Delawareans who like myself believe that establishing end-of-life options is the correct, compassionate thing to do.”
Similar legislation passed through both chambers of the General Assembly in 2024, and was later vetoed by then-Governor John Carney.
If signed, Delaware will become one of 11 states to legalize medical aid in dying.
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