Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Maryland House Revisits Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia

By Jack Hogan, 03/03/25

Hours before the Maryland House of Delegates on Monday revived a perennial debate over whether to legalize medical aid in dying, state senators canceled a hearing on the bill, appearing to forgo the debate in their chamber and all but guaranteeing that the measure won’t have a serious chance of becoming law until after the next election cycle.

Aid-in-dying advocates and at least one top House member were initially under the impression that Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith would reschedule the canceled hearing, which was planned for Wednesday.

But top senators didn’t have plans to reschedule, and House Majority Leader David Moon wrote in a text message that he heard the bill was dead in the Senate....

Maryland lawmakers have debated the issue for a decade. In 2019, the House of Delegates passed a version of the proposal but it stalled in the Senate after a single lawmaker’s inaction [Senator Obie Patterson] led to a split vote and the proposal’s demise.