Advocates concede defeat on aid-in-dying bill in 2014

The campaign for passage of an aid-in-dying law in Connecticut in 2014 ended Tuesday with a concession that the bill does not have the support in the legislature’s Public Health Committee to reach the House floor.

“In an election year, in a short-session year, we were so pleased to expand the debate and to get a public hearing,” said Tim Appleton, manager of the campaign to pass the bill.

Appleton said he believes the conversation on the emotional issue has progressed at the State Capitol and passage is a matter of when, not if.

“End of life choice is the among the most important you’ll ever face,“ Appleton told reporters.

The outcome was not unexpected. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was among those expressing reservations about a law that would allow physicians to prescribe, but not administer lethal drugs to the terminally ill.