The Oct. 18 event at the Canton Senior Center was arranged after the ballot measure, known as Question 2, triggered a great deal of informal discussion among elders, said Diane Tynan, director of the local Council on Aging. A number of other forums on the issue are scheduled in other communities south of Boston.

“People sound concerned — they are asking what would it mean for them, or their spouse, if it goes through,” Tynan said.

The measure, if passed, would allow a person with six months or less to live to obtain a prescription drug to take his or her own life. Also known as the “Death with Dignity” initiative, it includes safeguards, such as a 15-day waiting period between first and second requests made by the patient to his or her doctor.

A seniors’ bulletin in Canton describes the 1 p.m. seminar as a way for people to become informed and decide well on a ballot question that “will shape our future.” It also urges seniors to get out and vote, ending: “Please don’t let others make this choice for you.”

“I just want people to have all of the facts. I’m not trying to sway people one way or the other,” said Tynan, adding that she herself is undecided. “It is important for people to know both sides of the question. There is a lot of misinformation. People of all ages get confused.”

A representative from Dignity 2012, a statewide coalition of citizens supporting the act, will present alongside a speaker from the Committee Against Physician-Assisted Suicide, she said.

Some religious organizations and disability rights’ activists have condemned the ballot measure, and the Massachusetts Medical Society joined the opposition last month. In Boston and Cambridge, several medical and legal academics and civil liberties advocates have backed the referendum, which has also drawn support from some caregivers, including the state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. A Suffolk University poll released Sept. 17 found nearly 65 percent of voters support Question 2.

On Oct. 15, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree is inviting people of all denominations to a 7:15 p.m. discussion with Deacon James Greer of the Archdiocese of Boston about the end-of-life beliefs of the Catholic Church, which opposes Question 2. On Oct. 19, the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Scituate is holding a 7 p.m. “Hot Topics” discussion that will begin with a documentary about the impact of a similar 1994 Oregon law. The event, cosponsored by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and for adults, will include Scituate clergy and hospice workers for a discussion of both sides of the issue.

In Norwood, parishioners at St. Catherine of Siena Parish are receiving guidance from the Very Rev. Myles Sheehan, a priest and physician who has specialized in geriatrics and worked extensively in palliative care.

Many older patients with serious illness have asked the medically trained priest to take their life in the past, Sheehan said, describing such pleas as “the beginning of the conversation.”

“More often than not, I felt like what they were seeking was a reaffirmation of their value and life,” said Sheehan, a Marshfield native who recently held a seminar on Question 2 at churches in Norwood and Boston.

Sheehan said it would be a travesty if, in that vulnerable moment when a patient wishes for death, physicians in Massachusetts begin responding with “Here’s a prescription.”

“I think many people who are in favor of this measure are afraid of medical care,” he said, adding that enhanced palliative care and social support is key. “People are afraid of being a burden on their families or dying on a machine or dying alone, but none of this needs to be true.”

Sheehan suggested that Question 2, if passed, might blunt advances in care. “It will alter how we look at people who are old and dying,” he said.

Yet other caregivers, such as Gretchen Robinson, 68, a retired nurse and former hospice chaplain in Attleboro, said people deserve the right to choose their time of death near the end of a terminal illness.

“There is a lot of emotion behind this issue,” said Robinson, who recently sparked debate in an online forum when she expressed support for Question 2.