As the Maryland General Assembly prepares to again debate whether to legalize physician-assisted suicide, there is a behind the scenes argument about how to refer to this practice – “Death with Dignity”? “Physician-Assisted Suicide”? “Aid in Dying”? “Doctor prescribed suicide”? What may seem trivial is actually remarkably important to truly understanding the impact of legalizing...
Read MoreOver and over again, legislators hear arguments from PAS supporters that the legalization of physician-assisted suicide has not led to any documented cases of abuse. They further argue that PAS should be legalized because the legislation is full of safeguards, and because not that many people take advantage of the law anyway. However, the official...
Read MoreHappy New Year! The 2017 session of the Maryland General Assembly is about to start and we again expect legislation that seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide to be introduced. We wanted to ensure our allies were aware of the important dates of the upcoming legislative session, as well as share some helpful resources as we...
Read MoreDuring 2016, our supporters across the state did amazing work to ensure that legislation seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide was not passed by the General Assembly. After the session was over, we continued our work spreading the messages about why legalizing “death with dignity” in Maryland would be such a big mistake. Examples from Maryland...
Read MoreOn the heels of Colorado voting to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS), advocates are looking for ways to make the deadly concoction patients take to end their lives cheaper. Right now, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the drug company that manufactures one of the most popular drugs patients use is seizing the opportunity to make a profit by charging...
Read MoreRemember the tagline of those old Hair Club for Men advertisements, “I’m not just the president of Hair Club for Men, I’m also a client!”? We were reminded of those cheesy 80’s TV commercials when we saw this story out of Colorado last week: Proponents of successful medical aid-in-dying initiative push ahead with implementation. After Compassion...
Read MoreWith the Iowa State Legislature likely to debate legislation in 2017 that would legalize physician-assisted suicide, the state’s largest newspaper, the Des Moines Register, thoroughly examined how the practice of PAS plays out in states where it is legal. What they found is not surprising: the implementation of PAS is nothing like Compassion & Choices...
Read MoreLast week, Vox.com ran a very interesting piece about physician-assisted suicide titled “Everyone should have the right to assisted suicide — or no one should.” In it, a philosophy professor from Brown University explores the moral and logical arguments about so-called “death with dignity” laws in the U.S. Although she never takes a position on...
Read MoreSomething truly shocking happened after California legalized physician-assisted suicide in 2015. It’s a clear example of “slippery slope” arguments coming true. No longer can proponents of PAS argue that scare tactics are being used in an attempt to stop the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. As first noted by Wesley Smith in the First Things blog, California recently issued...
Read MoreIn an op-ed published in the U.S. News & World Report recently, Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie explores how physician-assisted suicide laws put Latinos disproportionally at-risk. As an example, Dr. Christie cites a recent example of a California woman who is denied life-saving treatment and instead is offered assisted suicide by her insurer. Dr. Pozo’s arguments...
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