Washington D.C., has always held its concern for the elderly and infirm as a point of pride. Subsidized housing dedicated specifically to low-income elderly people is scattered throughout the city. In an otherwise high-tax jurisdiction, the property taxes there are among the lowest in America. This is specifically so that elderly homeowners can keep their homes even if their assessed values skyrocket amid gentrification.

So it is dismaying that the District’s Council is moving assisted suicide legislation that will encourage and even put pressure on many older and sicker District residents, whose upkeep can place great burdens on their families, to end their own lives. The District’s bill would require those seeking to kill themselves to show that they have a terminal disease with a prognosis of less than six months left to live. More often than not, this will be an encouragement for older Washingtonians to shuffle off this mortal coil.