In the best tradition of journalism, The Day is keeping its readers informed about a topic that could directly affect them in very personal ways. A pending bill in Hartford (HB 7015), called “An Act Providing a Medical Option of Compassionate Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Adults” would allow mentally-competent, terminally ill patients to obtain death-inducing medication from their doctors, which they could choose to take if they find themselves unable to withstand their suffering. 

The Day has recently run a pair of guest editorials, “Physician-assisted suicide: Pro,” and “Physician-assisted suicide: Con,” (March 22), by doctors who express some of the pros and cons of this issue and have been covering related developments in the state legislature. While I feel I should be praising this coverage, I am distressed that The Day has been consistently referring to this topic and the pending legislation as physician-assisted suicide. This is a term fraught with negativity that is used only by those who are in opposition. 

It would serve The Day more admirably to use the term Aid in Dying, as in the Connecticut legislation, or Death with Dignity, a term used in Oregon and other states with similar laws, rather than compromising its objective news coverage by using a term that implies a bias. 

Phyllis Ross

Lyme