Bad News and Good

Assisted Suicide is Advancing

Multiple states have repeatedly rejected of assisted suicide year after year. No new legalization has occurred since 2021, until now.

Delaware legalized the practice when the governor signed it into law on May 20th. Doctors will begin hastening death on January 1, 2026. It becomes the 12th jurisdiction that permits this affront to human dignity.

The New York legislature passed an assisted suicide bill on June 9th. It now awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature. The law will NOT have a residency requirement. Each year, the bills have fewer restrictions, and this one passed without a major “safeguard”. They want death tourism in the Empire State. I urge you to ask Gov. Hochul, as I did, to veto the bill.

The AMA Stands Firm in Opposing PAS

Also on June 9th, the American Medical Society reaffirmed it’s strong opposition to PAS. The organization has persistently insisted that PAS is “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer”. Here are some key quotes from the current HOD Handbook. (PAS begins on p. 7)

“In the Council’s view, despite its negative connotations, the term ‘physician assisted suicide’ describes the practice with the greatest precision. Most importantly, it clearly distinguishes the practice from euthanasia. The terms ‘aid in dying’ or ‘death with dignity’ could be used to describe either euthanasia or palliative/hospice care at the end of life and this degree of ambiguity is unacceptable for providing ethical guidance.”

“The use of other terminology to describe this practice has the potential to confuse patients and unduly influence decision making. Descriptors
such as Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), physician aid-in-dying, and death with dignity could apply to palliative care practices and compassionate care near the end of life that do not include intending the death of patients. In [a previous report], the Council determined that PAS was the terminology which described the practice best.”

“AMA policy opposes the legalization and practice of physician assisted suicide stating that it is ‘fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer.'”

“Of note, the AMA’s position on physician assisted suicide is not a position of neutrality and establishes that the profession of medicine should not support the legalization or practice of physician assisted suicide or see it as part of a physician’s role.”