In the News

Canada’s Assisted Suicide Laws Include People with Mental Illness
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
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
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

Newfound Disabilities Drive Requests For Assisted Suicide
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.

Statement of Patient’s Rights Action Fund Regarding World Medical Association Recently Adopted International Code of Medical Ethics: Conscientious Objection
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

Woman with Long Covid Feels Assisted Suicide is Only Option
“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.’”

We are proud to introduce our next Coalitions Director, María José Fernandez Flores!
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…

BMJ article about increased patient suicide draws wrong conclusions
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…

Introducing Deputy Coalitions Director for Disability Outreach
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.
Webinar: Fighting Assisted Suicide Coast to Coast, March 11th 2022
Fighting Assisted Suicide Coast to Coast: The big picture in the states, federal, and judiciary Friday, March 11th 2022 4:00pm to 5:30pm EST REGISTER TODAY The Patients’ Rights Action Fund and our allies fight the legalization of assisted suicide public policy, which is dangerous and discriminatory. You are invited to attend a webinar for a

Misconceptions about Opposition to Assisted Suicide Expansion
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…
No, assisted suicide should not be another option for end-of-life care.
Anyone dying in discomfort may legally today, in all 50 states, receive palliative sedation. The patient would be sedated and discomfort relieved while the dying process takes place. This is a legal practice that accomplishes the supposed goal of assisted suicide laws without all the baggage. But proponents of assisted suicide laws are trying to

Assisted Suicide is BAD Legislation
The Washington Post published a piece on the debate happening in Delaware around assisted suicide bill HB 140. In the article, they summarize some of the stipulations in the bill: “The bill states that any provision in a contract, will, or other agreement that would affect whether an individual could make or rescind a request
Inmate Seeks Assisted Suicide Despite being Treatable
Larry Smith, an inmate with throat cancer in Maine is enlisting the help of Maine’s so-called “Death With Dignity” law to end his life through assisted suicide. Smith has Stage 2 throat cancer. A Stage 2 diagnosis is early and likely treatable. Smith is currently receiving treatment for his cancer while incarcerated. But in

Underserved Communities, Hospice, and Healthcare Inequity
The Black Wall Street Times reports that a hospice organization in Tennessee is filling the gap in inequitable end-of-life care by catering specifically to the Black families in their community. The article reports that in Tennessee, just 19% of hospice patients are Black, despite Black families making up 27% of the population in the state.

Choosing death over Interdependence
HBO Max’s “A Thousand Fangs” director Jaime Osorio Márquez died by assisted suicide in Colombia on December 23, 2021, after a years-long fight with kidney cancer. He was 46 years old. His producing partner and friend, Federico Duran, reportedly communicated that Osorio was compelled to end his life before he became a burden on his
Austria allows “right” to assisted suicide
Starting in 2022, Austrians who are “chronically, seriously ill or have no prospect of recovery will be able to state their will to die” and be given suicide assistance. The article published by the Associated Press calls this allowance to die by assisted suicide “tightly limited”. These “tightly limited” allowances enable people with disabilities to
Proponents Work Tirelessly To Strip Safeguards Away After Assisted Suicide is Legalized
Assisted suicide is legal in California. Earlier this year, California adjusted one of its “safeguards” on the waiting period between the first request for lethal drugs and the second formal request. The original law maintained that the patient must wait 15 days between the first request and the second. California shortened that “safeguard” to a
The Real Debate on Assisted Suicide
Recently, The New York Times wrote about the assisted suicide debate being inflamed by Philip Nitschke’s suicide pod. Besides the disquieting thought of a personalized gas chamber invented by the man who wants to make suicide available to everyone without barriers, the Sarco pod does not actually ignite the debate on assisted suicide. The device
Some patients get suicide prevention while others get suicide assistance.
Assisted suicide is dangerous and discriminatory. One example of this is that some medical professionals decide which patients to give suicide prevention to and which patients to assist. “Interviews with hospice staff in Washington in the US, where a form of medically assisted dying is available, found that they encountered different types of suicide, and