The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved its version of Ryan\u2019s Law, a measure that would allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana while receiving care in hospitals and other health care facilities.<\/p>\n
The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with 177 lawmakers voting in favor. Supporters say the legislation is designed to give patients greater comfort, dignity and choice during the final stages of life.<\/p>\n
State Representative Dan Frankel, who helped write the legislation, said the bill is about allowing patients to remain present and connected with their loved ones during some of life’s most important moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how important it is to be able to share those moments, to grab somebody’s hand, to know that you’re there with them,\u201d Frankel said. \u201cThis gives people the opportunity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the proposal, health care facilities would be required to permit approved medical cannabis use for eligible terminally ill patients. Advocates say medical marijuana can provide symptom relief while avoiding some of the side effects associated with opioids and other medications that may impair a patient’s ability to communicate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere really is truly a medical purpose for this plant and for some patients. It’s really the only option to allow them to have quality and dignity of life at the end,\u201d said Meredith Schneider, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition.<\/p>\n
Supporters of the bill say they have worked closely with lawmakers to develop safeguards that expand access while maintaining oversight for both patients and health care providers.<\/p>\n
Frankel said the legislation would help ensure terminal patients have access to all available options for managing pain and symptoms during their final days.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome medical facilities don’t allow this as an option, and this actually requires that that takes place,\u201d Frankel said. \u201cI think it’s so much more of a humane, sensitive way to allow people to spend time in the last weeks and moments of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters hope the overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House will help build momentum for the measure’s final passage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the Senate takes it up,\u201d Frankel said. \u201cWe send a strong message with such a strong bipartisan vote again, Republicans and Democrats coming together saying this is important. Let’s do this. We certainly can agree on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Senate approves the House version, the bill would then be sent to Governor Josh Shapiro for his consideration. If signed into law, Ryan\u2019s Law would allow eligible terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana while receiving care in hospitals and other health care facilities across Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved its version of Ryan\u2019s Law, a measure that would allow terminally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12901,91624,91741,35188,28,30,29,91740,91739,91738],"class_list":["post-208861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-dan-frankel","tag-health-care-providers","tag-medical-facilities","tag-medical-marijuana","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-ryans-law","tag-terminal-patients","tag-terminally-ill-patients"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}