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	Podcast:		Maine Things Considered
	Episode:		Mainers Petition to Get Assisted-Suicide Initiative on Ballot
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:
	Publish Date:		2018-04-12 14:53:53
	Description:		Mainers can expect to see petitions circulating in the coming weeks asking if they'd like to see an initiative for physician-assisted suicide on the fall ballot next year. Valerie Lovelace from the Wiscasset-based Maine Death With Dignity is one of those spearheading the petition drive, to be launched next week. She volunteers for hospice. "I've sat at the bedside of individuals who have died, and that have not gone well," says Lovelace. Lovelace says two cases in particular were excruciating, and both of those people wanted to choose when to end their lives but couldn't. "And so I promised them I would continue until we had this option in Maine." Under the proposal, a person would need to receive a terminal diagnosis from at least two doctors, before being eligible to receive the medication to end their lives. Lovelace says it's about providing a dignified choice for people who are still capable of making what she describes as a highly important and very personal decision. Critics
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