that his personal battle with cancer had changed his perspective and that he was now "open to both sides of the issue". massachusetts voting results for the 2012 massachusetts death with dignity initiative the massachusetts death with dignity initiative, a ballot measure to legalize aid in dying, was narrowly defeated in the 2012 general election, with 51% of voters against the proposal. a poll taken by the boston globe and the university of new hampshire between september 21 and 27, 2012, found massachusetts residents supporting question 2 68%, with 20% opposed. another public poll by the university of massachusetts and yougov american found similar results as late as october 8 with 65% in support and 19% opposed. legislation to legalize physician assisted suicide was introduced numerous times in the massachusetts house both before and after the ballot initiative, in 1995, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015. none of these bills moved out of committee. in 2017, companion bills in the house and senate were introduced on the issue, with 44 and 11 cosponsors on the respective bills, but died in committee after a joint public hearing. in 2019, a similar pair of bills was introduced by an expanded coalition of 67 cosponsors in the house and senate. an amended version of these bills, the massachusetts end of life options act, advanced from the joint committee on public health on may 29, 2020, to the joint committee on healthcare financing, where it failed to receive a vote before the end of the 2020 legislative session on december 31. a 2019 poll of 500 residents conducted by the boston globe and suffolk university, released in 2020, found that 70% of massachusetts residents agreed that "the terminally ill be permitted to end their own lives with the help of a doctor, also known as medical aid in dying." support for assisted suicide was similar across broad geographic regions, age brackets, and genders, but varied more by race, with stronger support among white (73%) and black (64%) respondents, and less support from hispanic/latino (50%) and asian (52%) respondents. the overall margin of error was reported as ±4.4, but higher for smaller subgroups. new york in 1994, a suit was filed in new york claiming that the anti-assisted suicide statute was a violation of equal protection and liberty guarantees of the fourteenth amendment. this claim was rejected by the district court on the basis that there is no right to assisted suicide given by the u.s. constitution. in 1996, the u.s. court of appeals overturned this ruling with the reasoning that the criminalization of assisted suicide violates the equal protection clause. however, the u.s. supreme court unanimously reversed the u.s. court of appeals decision in vacco v. quill, 521 u.s. 793 (1997). in february 2015, new york state senators brad hoylman and diane savino introduced a "death with dignity act" to allow physician-assisted suicide in the state. on september 7, 2017, in myers v. schneiderman, the new york court of appeals held that terminally-ill persons did not possess a right to physician-assisted suicide under the new york state constitution. nevada in may 2017, a bill was passed by the state senate, which sought to legalize physician-assisted suicide. however, when passed to the nevada assembly, the committee on health and human services chose not to advance the bill. similar legislation was reintroduced at the next legislative session, which took place in 2019. although it once again passed out of committee, it was not brought to a full senate vote before the deadline. tennessee tennessee's legislature first debated legalizing assisted suicide in 2015. in the following year, a prominent tennessee political figure, john jay hooker, took the cause to the courts by filing a lawsuit asking for physician assisted suicide. the case was in the appeals process when hooker died of cancer on january 24, 2016. a pair of companion bills to legalize the practice were introduced in the tennessee house and senate in 2017, but did not advance. state power to allow and regulate states have the power to regulate, allow or prohibit assisted suicide. in 1997, in the cases of washington v. glucksberg and vacco v. quill, the u.s. supreme court ruled unanimously that there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide, and that states therefore have the right to prohibit it. advocates of assisted suicide saw this as opening the door for debate on the issue at the state level. gonzales v. oregon was brought to the united states supreme court in 2006. the court ruled that the united states attorney general could not enforce the federal controlled substances act against physicians who prescribed drugs, in compliance with oregon state law, for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill. in practice health departments in oregon and washington state publicly report yearly on the use of assisted death; as required in their respective statutes. a documentary was produced in 2011 called how to die in oregon which follows a woman who uses assisted death and interviews her family and interviews opponents of the law. controversy people disagree about what the practice of helping a terminally ill or disabled person die by suicide should be called. proponents like to call the practice "medical aid in dying" because they do not believe that killing oneself under those circumstances is wrong or unhealthy. opponents tend to prefer the term "physician-assisted suicide (pas)", which employs the technical terms for self (sui) killing (cide). they feel that pas is the most accurate moniker for the act of helping anyone end their own life. like all heated debates, terms for the latter practice are subject to political framing. proponents are more likely to use terms like "physician-assisted dying", "physician-assisted death", "aid in dying", "death with dignity", "right to die", "compassionate death", "compassionate dying", "end-of-life choice", and "medical assistance at the end of life". opponents do not view the latter practice as a legitimate medical procedure, hence they regard the aforementioned labels as euphemisms and use the term "assisted suicide". controversy concerning the legalization of this practice typically arises from concerns regarding its intersection with manipulative circumstances or family members; inaccurate prognoses, the accuracy of death certificates, unequal access to healthcare, financial problems, the werther effect, advocacy for the practice's expansion to those with disabilities, the deaths of disabled persons in places like canada that have occipital because of a lack of social support, evidence of abuse in other jurisdictions where pas is authorized and ableism in general. opponents view these factors as legitimate reasons to keep physician assisted suicide illegal. debate over whether assisted suicide/maid is suicide suicide refers to the act of taking one's own life. opponents feel that this term is appropriate to describe assisted death, because of the social and personal dynamics that can pressure someone into choosing death. opponents also cite the fact that oncologists and other non-psychiatric physicians responsible for referring patients for counseling are not trained to detect complex, potentially invisible disorders like clinical depression. proponents feel that "medical aid in dying" differs from suicide because a patient must be confirmed by two physicians to be terminally ill with a prognosis of 6 months or less to live and must also be confirmed by two physicians to be mentally capable to make medical decisions. that is why proponents support death certificates that list their underlying condition as the cause of death. according to the proponents, suicide is a solitary, unregulated act whereas aid in dying is medically authorized and is intended to allow for the presence of loved ones. proponents define "suicide" as an irrational act committed in the throes of mental illness. they assert that the latter act is fundamentally distinct from the practice that they are advocating, as it is intended to be a measured act. in contrast, opponents feel that this characterization of suicide is erroneous. they point out that people commit suicide for political reasons, for the same reasons that proponents cite as rational justifications for assisted death, and that mentally ill people who become terminally ill may experience assisted death as a potential "out" in regard to suicidal ideation that they had previously fought. moreover, they argue that the highly publicized deaths of assisted death advocates are political acts. assisted suicide versus euthanasia in the united states, assisted death is a practice by which a terminally ill person who is believed to be of sound mind and has a prognosis of six months or less requests, obtains and – if they feel their suffering has become unbearable – self-administers barbiturates to end their life. euthanasia, which is practiced in canada, belgium, colombia and the netherlands, is a practice in which another person (generally a physician) acts to cause death. euthanasia is illegal in the united states, whereas assisted death is currently authorized in ten states and the district of columbia. public opinion public support for assisted death ranges from around 45% to 75% depending on how in-depth the questions are and how they are phrased. for instance, in "the murky issue of whether the public supports assisted dying", reporter katherine sleeman noted: "not surprisingly, the acceptability of assisted dying varies according to the precise context ... a comres/care poll in 2014 found that 73% agreed with the legalization of a bill which enables, "mentally competent, adults in the uk who are terminally ill and have declared a clear and settled intention to end their own life, to be provided with assistance to commit suicide by self-administering lethal drugs." but 42% of these same people subsequently changed their minds when some of the empirical arguments against assisted dying were highlighted to them-such as the risk of pressure on people to end their lives so as not to be a burden on loved ones." gallup in a may 2020 gallup poll, 74% of u.s. adults say doctors should be allowed to end the life of a patient with an incurable disease "by some painless means" if the patient and the patient's family requests it." in a may 2016 gallup poll, 69% of americans said they agree that "when a person has a disease that cannot be cured...doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and their family request it." the fact that the caveat in this poll is incurable illness rather than terminal illness represents one of the opponents' primary objections to assisted death. in a may 2015 gallup survey, 68% of americans agreed that "individuals who are terminally ill ... have the right to choose to end their own life." a 2014 gallup survey found that 69% of americans think that doctors should be allowed by law to end the life of a patient who has a disease that cannot be cured "by some painless means if the patient and their family request it." other surveys in 2014, a harris poll found that 74% of americans agree that "individuals who are terminally ill ... have the right to choose to end their own life." 17,000 u.s. doctors representing 28 medical specialities were surveyed by medscape on end-of-life issues. the survey found that 54% of doctors believe assisted suicide, or medical aid in dying, should be available as an end-of-life option. advocates religious leaders desmond tutu george carey actors patrick stewart leonard nimoy olympia dukakis elliott gould montel williams florence henderson public personalities george will derek humphry jack kevorkian diane rehm brittany maynard philip nitschke jeanne phillips betty rollin jane e. brody dolores huerta opponents public personalities dean koontz charles krauthammer politicians victoria reggie kennedy ralph nader denise provost lawyers wesley j. smith harriet mcbryde johnson shain neumeier doctors ira byock activists ari ne'eman marilyn golden lydia brown dominick evans corbett o'toole alice wong (disability rights activist) actors liz carr martin sheen academics rosemarie garland-thomson paul k. longmore adrienne asch supportive organizations american college of legal medicine american medical student association american medical women's association american public health association coalition for liberty & justice compassion and choices death with dignity national center glma: health professionals advancing lgbt equality national association of social workers older women's league american nurses association of california end of life washington oregon hospice and palliative hospice association triage cancer neutral organizations american academy of hospice and palliative medicine american society of health-system pharmacists american psychological