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HANCOCK -- A community conversation regarding medically assisted death will be held this week through the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country. The Death with Dignity talk will start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Fifth and Elm 426 Quincy St. in Hancock.
League Co-President Linda Belote said the talk aims to prepare community members for a conversation surrounding upcoming bills in the Michigan State Legislature for 2027. "So far, there are 13 states, and the District of Columbia that have made death with medical assistance legal," she said. "In 2023, the senators of Michigan put forward a bill... it did not get moved out to the legislature for a vote."
Michigan has a history with the battle surrounding medically assisted death. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan resident and proponent of a practice formally labeled physician-assisted suicide, was convicted of murder in 1999 for delivering a lethal injection to a 52-year old ALS patient.
Kevorkian served eight years in prison and died in 2011. 15 years later, Belote said she became an advocate for the position which she has had experience with. "My husband died in December of 2024. The last four months of his life, he kept yelling, "I want to die. Kill me now," she said.
According to Belote, her husband, a dementia patient, would not be legally eligible for the procedure, citing a patient’s requirement for cognizance.
Now, along with League members Fredi DeYampert and Candy Peterson, Belote wants the community to consider her perspective and to talk about death openly. "I hope that they [residents] get informed enough for themselves... that people are going to think differently about this," she said. "Some people will think it's not the right thing in any situation. Some people are going to think it's the right thing for more than the population that will now be allows to do it."
HB5825 in the Michigan State Legislature was introduced in April of this year. Accompanying it are HB5826, HB5827, HB5828. According to the Death with Dignity advocate website, those three bills will create safeguards for the main bill, legalizing physician assisted death in Michigan.
The talk will feature Belote's story. DeYampert will give a talk on the ethics of the issue. Two ten-minute conversations will be led by Peterson which will give the community an opportunity to share their experiences and perspective.
Belote said she has been an activist her whole life. This is another issue she said she is passionate about and wants the community to be aware of this movement. "I was very sympathetic with his [husband's] point of view. He had always been a brilliant person and he knew that," she said. "For three months, he said he did not know who I was. That was very difficult for me... I wish I could've had death with dignity."