Disability Rights Advocates Show Up at Supreme Judicial Court On Thursday, October 13th, members of Not Dead Yet and Second Thoughts gathered outside the Supreme Judicial Courts (SJC). People showed up with signs and flyers to remind the court and anyone who passed by that assisted suicide public policy, whether through the legislature or the

Dedicated Physicians See Victory for International Code of Ethics There was a strong attempt in the past few months to require effective referral of patients, overriding conscientious objection, for assisted suicide, euthanasia and other procedures in the new International Code of Medical Ethics being revised by the World Medical Association (WMA).   The initial draft of

Increase in Australian Assisted Suicides But Not In Actual Healthcare In Victoria, Australia, death by assisted suicide skyrocketed up thirty-one percent from June 2021 to June 2022. During that same time, evidence of a compromised health care system has raised alarm and questions about the inherently dangerous and discriminatory practice of assisted suicide. As an

Palliative Care Promotes Dignified Living Some patients with dementia, like Kate Cheney, have received a prescription for lethal drugs, despite being denied by doctors, who did not believe she had capacity to make such a life and death decision.   Dementia has become a deadly diagnosis for millions of Americans. Since the disease takes a lengthy

Mental Illness “Safeguards” Aren’t Safe At All Canada’s assisted suicide laws are soon to expand availability to patients with mental illnesses. Members of Parliament debated this issue as these changes are anticipated in March of 2023. The article states, “Mental health advocates warn it is harder to predict the outcomes and treatments of mental illnesses,

Matt Vallière Responds to New York Times Article The New York Times shared an article titled “Is Choosing Death Too Easy in Canada?” on September 18th, 2022. Executive Director of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund, Matt Vallière, wrote a letter to the editor responding to this article. He writes:  “When care is denied or even

Three Common Issues With Assisted Suicide Laws The debate about assisted suicide and euthanasia laws continues to increase around the world, but as Americans begin to see the repercussions of assisted suicide laws from our northern neighbors in Canada, even proponents of assisted suicide are questioning whether or not these laws are working. There are

Rapid Expansion of Assisted Suicide Laws Raises Concern As number of medically assisted deaths climbs, so do concerns over its use. The debate on Canada’s assisted suicide laws continues to heat up. In just six years, the “safeguards” in place are already loosening, as they have here in the US in the states where it’s

Misconceptions About Palliative Care Harvard Health published a helpful article describing the purpose and benefit of palliative care. There are often misconceptions about what palliative care is and why it can be beneficial. From the beginning of the Palliative/Hospice Care movement, the purpose has always been a holistic approach to address physical, mental, emotional, and

Canada’s Assisted Suicide Laws Expanded to Include People with Mental Illness As Canada nears the implementation of amendments to their euthanasia and assisted suicide laws in March 2023, growing concern rises. These laws remove the alleged “safeguard” that a person must have a terminal illness to apply for assisted suicide. Now, those who are experiencing

Patients Have Access to Assisted Suicide but not Affordable Healthcare When people with disabilities are not provided adequate healthcare, palliative care, long term services and supports, or hospice, but rather are encouraged to consider assisted suicide, it is communicated that they would be better off dead than disabled. This is especially exemplified in an article

Federal Ruling Ensures Patient Autonomy to Choose a Do No Harm Doctor In a Friday ruling, “A federal judge says part of California’s aid-in-dying law is unconstitutional because it requires physicians, regardless of personal objections, to report a terminally ill patient’s request for life-ending medication,” quotes the San Fransisco Chronicle in their recent article.  Some

There are millions in this country who cannot stand up, go to the bathroom, or sit up on their own who deserve equal assisted suicide prevention care when they feel that those disabilities are too much to bear and ask for help in suicide.

The Patient’s Rights Action Fund applauds the WMA’s recently adopted policy preserving physicians’ right to not participate in assisted suicide, thereby preserving patient choice to receive care from someone who would not help them kill themselves in a dark moment

“Overall, more than 1.4 million Canadians with disabilities live in poverty according to a 2017 census—that’s roughly 1 in 25 Canadians. According to Dosani, MAiD [assisted suicide] becomes ‘the only option left to many people.’”

María José came to apply through our mutual connections at California League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. She has worked in direct lobbying and worked in coalitions on human dignity issues, including assisted suicide, restorative justice, immigrant rights, victim empowerment, and advocacy on behalf of incarcerated persons. María José is a proud dreamer, born in Lima, Peru, who grew up in Northern California. She has an intuitive sense and passion for this issue, and we are grateful for her leadership and perspective…

A BMJ article titled “Some groups of terminally ill patients are twice as likely to die by suicide, data show” draws the wrong conclusion from the data surrounding increased patient suicide. The study referenced in the article, done by the Office for National Statistics, records that patients with some serious conditions are twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves compared to control groups with similar socio-demographic characteristics…

The Patients’ Rights Action Fund (PRAF) is pleased to announce a new focus for our colleague, Ian McIntosh, who will now be our Deputy Coalitions Director for Disability Outreach. He has long personal experiences with the intersection of disability and healthcare. Those experiences include being a patient/consumer as a person with a disability whose life was significantly affected following a serious car accident; as an end-of-life caregiver; and as a spouse to a person with disabilities.

Assisted suicide proponents are doing a bait and switch – they use “safeguards” to convince legislators to pass the bills only to strip away those same precautions a few years later. Proponents of assisted suicide in Washington state are doing exactly this, claiming there is a barrier to access the lethal drugs because of the meager ‘safeguards’ they promised would make the bill safe to pass in the first place…