Bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide in Delaware fails in Senate

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide in Delaware failed to win approval in the state Senate on Thursday after narrowly clearing the House earlier this year, but it could come back next week.

The legislation failed in the Democrat-led Senate in a 9-9 tie after three members of the Democratic caucus spoke against the measure. No Republican lawmakers voted for it.

Two Republicans were absent and Smyrna-area Democrat Sen. Kyra Hoffner tearfully declined to vote on the measure she co-sponsored. In a strategic move that could allow the bill to come back for a vote next week before the legislative session ends, Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, of Newark, switched his vote from “yes” to “no.” Under Senate rules, a motion for reconsideration can be made by a member who voted on the prevailing side, which in this case includes the “no votes” and members not voting.

“I just can’t get there,” Stanton Democrat Sen. Jack Walsh explained as he spoke about his older sister’s 10-year fight against breast cancer. He also recounted the plea made by the late college basketball coach Jim Valvano in a 1993 speech marking the start of the V Foundation for Cancer Research as he himself was dying from cancer: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

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