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3/25/2026
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Ajello introduces Lila Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act
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 STATE HOUSE – Rep. Edith H. Ajello has reintroduced legislation to allow terminally ill Rhode Islanders to end their suffering on their own terms.
The Lila Manfield Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act would guarantee a terminal patient’s right to end their suffering and protect health care providers from being held liable for providing the prescription they use.
“Terminally ill patients should not be forced to remain in agony without hope of reprieve if they wish otherwise. We should trust patients to know when they have suffered enough, and respect their wishes. The Lila Sapinsley Act is carefully written to provide many layers of protection, and I am confident that Rhode Island can safely join the ranks of states that allow compassion for people’s suffering at the end of their lives,” said Representative Ajello (D-Dist. 1, Providence).
The legislation, which Representative Ajello has introduced since 2015, is named for the former Rhode Island senator Lila Sapinsley, a political mainstay in Rhode Island. Active since the 1960s, she was the first female Senate minority leader. After leaving the Senate, she remained active and was well known for her work on health care access, protecting civil liberties, promoting open government and engaging young students. Before her death at age 92 in 2014, she had been working to develop and promote this legislation.
Thirteen states, including Maine and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia have similar “death with dignity” laws.
Such laws prevent needless suffering for both patients and their families when a patient is desperate for a way to end their agony. Representative Ajello pointed to a tragedy in February in nearby Plainfield, Conn., when a 62-year-old man whose wife was suffering with terminal cancer ended both their lives by gunshot shortly after calling police and informing them of his plan.
The bill (2026-H 7760) would establish a system through which terminally ill adult patients could request from their physician a prescription for medication to be self-administered to hasten the patient’s death.
The bill spells out a process and numerous conditions that must be met, including that the patient make two documented requests at least 15 days apart with witnesses, and that the patient be informed of their prognosis, treatment options, and all feasible end-of-life services including palliative care, comfort care, hospice care and pain control. The patient must be referred to another physician for second opinions. Additionally, the bill requires verification that the patient does not have impaired judgment.
Under the proposed legislation, no doctor, nurse or other person would be subject to any criminal or civil penalty for providing the prescription, nor be legally required to prescribe a lethal dose of medication for a patient. Health care facilities would be allowed to prohibit physicians from writing prescriptions for lethal doses of medication for patients who are residents of the facility.
The bill was introduced Feb. 12 and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Companion legislation (2026-S 2051) has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Meghan E. Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, Providence).
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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