Opinion: While I miss my husband more than words can describe, medical aid in dying was a blessing for him

But for millions of Americans who depend on federally funded insurance (e.g., Medicare, Tricare) and medical facilities (e.g., Veterans Affairs facilities), medical aid in dying is inaccessible.

Luckily for Matt, generous friends helped us pay our $2,100 out-of- pocket expenses for medical aid in dying, including $1,400 for doctor visits required to ensure Matt met the law’s stringent, multistep criteria and $700 for the aid-in-dying medication.

But not everyone is so lucky, and medical aid in dying shouldn’t be available for only a select few. Congress has an ethical and moral duty to right this injustice — especially for terminally ill veterans who risked their lives to defend our country and deserve a peaceful death — by repealing the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act.

Having the medical aid in dying for Matt saved him so much more suffering. He had already suffered so much.

Matt’s amazing friend Jason Vazquez, an intensive care unit nurse who served with him in the Gulf War, aptly said to him near the end of his life: “Matt, there’s just something better than this.”

Letting someone suffer, as Matt did, is morally wrong. Having seen Matt’s suffering firsthand, I think that to make someone continue to live in such a tortured state is also ethically wrong, and if there’s an option to ease that suffering, it’s what the person deserves.