A Virginia Senate committee voted Feb. 5 to block legislation that would have legalized assisted suicide for terminally ill patients with fewer than six months to live.
The Senate Education and Health Committee defeated SB 359 on an 8-7 vote. Two Democrats, state Sens. Lashrecse Aird of Petersburg and Schuyler VanValkenburg of Henrico, joined Republicans in opposition. The bill had narrowly advanced from a Senate subcommittee on Feb. 3 by a 3-2 vote, with one abstention.
Opponents had warned ahead of the vote that the measure could undermine the patient-physician relationship and place vulnerable patients at risk, particularly in a strained healthcare system.
Speaking to lawmakers during a Feb. 3 subcommittee debate, a representative from the Medical Society of Virginia — which recently shifted to oppose the bill after initially taking a neutral stance — emphasized that true end-of-life care is provided through hospice and palliative medicine, not assisted suicide.
According to WHRO News, family physician and former president of the society Thomas Eppes said, “Our profession needs to stand with patients from cradle to grave.”
Disability rights advocates echoed that sentiment, warning that legalizing assisted suicide could put deadly pressure on patients whose care options are constrained by cost, access, or inadequate support systems.
“Choice is not real when the systems that make living possible are broken,” Nichole Davis of the Virginia Association for Centers for Independent Living told the committee, according to WHRO.
The committee’s vote effectively halts the bill’s prospects for the current legislative session.
New York became the 13th state to legalize assisted suicide after Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the legislation Feb. 6; the law will take effect in August. The practice is also legal in Washington, D.C.