Missouri bill would let terminally ill patients seek medically-assisted suicide

A pre-filed Missouri House bill proposes to let a terminally ill patient take their own life through medically-assisted suicide. 

The ‘Marilyn Teitelbaum Death with Dignity’ Act is named after a St. Louis woman who traveled out of state to seek end-of-life care after suffering from A-L-S. 

It’s being sponsored by Democratic State Representative Ian Mackey of St. Louis. 

So-called “right to die” proposals have been attempted and failed in previous years in the Missouri Legislature. 

Under the bill, for someone to be given self-administered medication, a physician has to determine that they are competent through consultations, and that the physician has made the written request. 

A provision of this bill also requires the patient to be a resident of Missouri.