Current Status: H2505 crosses over to the 2026 legislative session and is currently in the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

S1486 also crosses over and is currently in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

What Happens Next? We are waiting to hear if H2505/S1486 report favorably out of their committees.

Current Status: H2505 reports favorably by the Joint Committee on Public Health and is referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

S1486 reports favorably by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and is referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

What Happens Next? The session ends, and H2505/S1486 will carry over to the 2026 legislative session.

SB1331 reports favorably in the Joint Committee on Public Health and is referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. SB1331 reports favorably by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and is referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. This is the furthest an aid-in-dying bill has progressed in Massachusetts. The session ends and the bill does not move forward.

The Massachusetts End of Life Options Act (SB1331/HB2246) was reintroduced for the 2023 legislative session in February. The bill is referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health. On October 20, The Massachusetts End of Life Options Act (SB1331/HB2246) received a public hearing in the Joint Committee on Public Health. The session ends on November 15, and the bills cross over to the next legislative session in 2024.

The Joint Committee on Public Health allows the July 31 extension to expire, effectively killing the bill for this legislative session.

The Massachusetts End of Life Options Act (HB2381/SB1384) is reintroduced for the 2021 legislative session. The bill is sponsored by a total of 67 members of the Massachusetts Legislature (20 Senators, 47 Representatives). On October 1, dozens of Death with Dignity supporters spoke in favor of the End of Life Options Act bills at a Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health hearing.

The Massachusetts End of Life Options Act (SB1208/HB1926) advances from the Joint Committee on Public Health on May 29, 2020, but does not pass during the 2020 legislative session, despite overwhelming public support.

The 2017-2018 session is the eighth time a Death with Dignity bill came up for consideration in the Massachusetts legislature. A hearing is held, and the bills are sent to study, effectively ending their chances of passage in the 2018 session.

In December 2017, the Massachusetts Medical Society rescinds its opposition to “physician assisted suicide” and adopts a position of “neutral engagement” on the issue.

In four consecutive legislative sessions, similar bills are introduced in an effort to advance Death with Dignity in Massachusetts. None of them move out of committee.

Death with Dignity National Center campaigned in Massachusetts for Question 2, a ballot initiative to pass a Death with Dignity law. While polls show 58 percent of Commonwealth residents support Question 2, the measure narrowly loses (51 to 49 percent) against a flood of spending by the opposition.