Bill Would Allow Terminally-Ill Patients To End Their Lives

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota lawmakers introduced Wednesday a bill to allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives.

The "End of Life Options Act" would allow patients with incurable diseases and who will die within six months to get an "aid-in-dying" medication they can take themselves.

ALS patient Bobbi Jacobsen spoke though a computer, telling reporters she wants a "peaceful alternative" to a painful death.

"Not allowing people like me a peaceful alternative is wrong," she said at a news conference. "Only I can determine the quality of my life. Only I can define what dignity means to me."

Six states currently have laws allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives.

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• Suicide