Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On this day, July 26th, 1990, the ADA was signed and enshrined civil rights protections into law for people with disabilities. Today and every ADA anniversary, the Patients’ Rights Action Fund (PRAF) celebrates the ADA’s affirmation that disability rights are civil rights – and they are worth fighting for.
That is why on April 23rd, 2023, the Institute for Patients’ Rights (a sister organization to PRAF) along with the United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, and individuals Lonnie VanHook and Ingrid Tischer filed a lawsuit in California Federal District Court (United Spinal vs California) that asserts that the state of California’s End Of Life Options Act (EOLOA) is unconstitutional and discriminatory, and in violation of the ADA, Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act and the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Legislators who pass laws that legitimize assisted suicide as valid health care “treatment” needlessly expose people with disabilities and the elderly – and particularly people of color – to immense pressure to choose assisted suicide. In states where assisted suicide is legal, people without disabilities who express a desire to die receive suicide prevention services. In those same states, people with disabilities who express a desire to die are given assistance in doing so.
On this ADA anniversary, we at the Patients’ Rights Action Fund reaffirm our resolute belief that the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, and the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of 14th Amendment of the Constitution guarantee everyone, whether disabled, non-disabled or yet-to-be-disabled, the human and civil right to equal access to health care without discrimination.
For more information, please visit our website here and our litigation website here.
Canada suspends plans to allow psychiatric euthanasia INDEFINITELY! Today the Canadian Ministers of Justice and Health announced that the plan to allow MAID (euthanasia) for patients with psychiatric disorders in March 2027, will be POSTPONED INDEFINITELY. This came on the same day as a Parliament vote scheduled on their C-218 bill that would permanently exclude
Canada Halts One Assisted Suicide Expansion While Proposing Another Canada just announced a significant reversal on euthanasia, but also a troubling new expansion. The Canadian government says it will introduce legislation to indefinitely prevent people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness from qualifying for euthanasia. That is welcome news. The expansion was originally scheduled
Delaware Assisted Suicide Lawsuit: A Critical Hearing Before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals From the Desk of Matthew P. Vallière Sept. 24, 2026 Yesterday, I was honored to represent the plaintiffs in our lawsuit against the state of Delaware at a hearing at the 3rd Circuit Court of appeals in Newark, New Jersey.
