A key backer of a bill being considered by the Vermont Legislature that would allow doctors to prescribe lethal amounts of medicine for terminally ill patients says there are numerous safeguards in the bill to guard against abuses.
Addison County Senator Claire Ayer, a Democrat, made the comments Tuesday during hours of debate about the bill that supporters call "end-of-life choices" and critics call "physician-assisted suicide".
Rutland County Senator Margaret Flory says she's bothered by supporters' talk of "death with dignity". She says her father died a dignified death without taking lethal amounts of medication.
The Senate was to vote Tuesday whether to follow a recommendation of the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the measure. The Senate's Health and Welfare Committee voted unanimously to support it.
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