Ohio state Sen. Charleta Tavares, D-Columbus, will soon introduce legislation that will allow mentally competent, terminally ill patients to opt for physician-assisted suicide, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Here are three things to know about the proposal, dubbed "Death with Dignity."
1. To be eligible for physician-assisted suicide, patients must be within six months of death.
2. Assisted suicide did not carry a criminal penalty in Ohio until 2016, and it is now a third-degree felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
3. Under the law, the patient would have to be mentally stable, undergo a waiting period and self administer the deadly drugs. No physician would be forced to prescribe the drugs if they did not want.