Wants freedom to choose how he dies

This is the written testimony I submitted to the House of Representatives on House Bill 477, a bill to clarify the offense of aiding or soliciting suicide, sponsored by Rep. Gerald Bennett, R-Helena:

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As a taxpayer and citizen of the state of Montana, I see HB 477 as an attempt by the government to take away a freedom that I believe the Supreme Court of the state of Montana has basically reaffirmed through the Baxter decision.

We call ourselves the land of the free. We recruit, train and pay young men and women to defend that freedom both here and abroad. We are free to choose where we want to live, to choose friends, to choose a spouse, to choose whatever level of education we wish to pursue, to choose a career path. We are free to choose.

We tell people around the world that we are a democracy — a democracy not a theocracy, because as a democracy we are free to choose our own God, or no God, or our own religion, with no one having a moral imperative over another. Part of that freedom is a separation of church and state to be fair to all that live here.

From my perspective, this is all about freedom. Here in the land of the free, I am told that I am free to make decisions in my life until the end, at which point if terminally ill and wanting to die rather than suffer interminably, the government will intrude and make decisions for me that I may disagree with.

This leaves end-of-life options, such as running a hose from the muffler into your vehicle and locking yourself into a garage, hanging yourself or putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger, causing great trauma for anyone left behind to deal with aftermath. This is truly elder abuse.

Voting down HB 477 would leave the option for your physician to prescribe you the appropriate drugs, have your family by your side and go peacefully to your death if you choose to do so, being of sound mind and able to self-administer the medication.

As elected officials, your job is to represent everyone and their freedom to make choices in their life as well as their death. Polls show that 70 percent of Montanans approve of physician aid in dying. I ask that you keep this, the land of the free, because like I said above, this is all about freedom.

Thank you for hearing me out on this issue. I hope that you vote against HB 477.

Bob Zimorino lives in Missoula.