‘Right to Die' initiative makes November ballot in Colorado

DENVER- You have a lot of decisions to make when you head to the polls this November.

After getting enough signatures and approval from the secretary of state, an initiative to give terminally ill patients the right to end their lives will be up for a vote in less than three months.

Julie Selsberg is relieved Initiative 145 will be on the ballot in November.

“I know for my dad, if he had had this option it would have given him great comfort at the end of his life and we would have had time to enjoy what little weeks and months we had together,” said Selsberg.

After being diagnosed with ALS and losing the ability to care for himself, Julie's dad Charles Selsberg stopped accepting nutrition for 13 days until he died.

This decision came after Charles discovered there were no options for him to have medical assistance to end his life.

“From the time he was diagnosed he said 'I am not going to see this through to the end' because he knew what faced him. Basically you are a mind that is alive in a dead body,” said Selsberg.

Julie's dad wrote an open letter to Colorado legislators which got the issue to the floor two years in a row, but it was never approved.

Now Julie continues that fight for her dad.

“It just weighed on him. At the end if there was something he could do to help others who would be in his position it motivated him to do it and to put himself out there in the public eye,” said Selsberg.

If approved by voters, Initiative 145 will allow mentally-able patients with less than six months to live to end their lives with the help of a doctor. And only if both parties agree and there are no more treatment options available.