Tag: Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide Puts Pressure on Vulnerable Patients

Last month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a deal to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

The so-called “Medical Aid in Dying Act” is supposed to make it possible for patients expected to die within six months to request a prescription for lethal drugs.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a similar assisted suicide law in December as well.

Despite the claim that these types of laws contain “safeguards,” patients facing expensive medical care also face pressure to opt for assisted suicide or euthanasia.

In 2019 a Canadian man with ALS made headlines when he chose to take his own life under the country’s assisted suicide and euthanasia laws after the government chose not to provide him with 24-hour home healthcare services due to cost.

In parts of the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care, but have offered to cover assisted-suicide drugs.

Arkansas protects innocent human life from conception to natural death. We must resist laws that would pressure people into ending their lives. There is nothing “compassionate” about giving someone a prescription for lethal drugs.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Assisted Suicide’s Slippery Slope to Broader Killing

Last month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a deal to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

The so-called “Medical Aid in Dying Act” is supposed to make it possible for patients expected to die within six months to request a prescription for lethal drugs.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a similar assisted suicide law in December as well.

History shows us that assisted suicide laws never stay limited. Countries like Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands have allowed assisted suicide and euthanasia for mental illness, depression, and dementia.

What starts as a “compassionate choice” becomes routine killing. Once society accepts that some lives aren’t worth living, the definition of “suffering” keeps expanding.

Arkansas families should watch New York and Illinois carefully. When lawmakers claim assisted suicide will stay limited to extreme cases, remember that every other state and country has seen these laws grow broader over time.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Researchers Say People With Eating Disorders are Dying from Assisted Suicide

A recent column in The Wall Street Journal highlights how people with eating disorders are dying from assisted suicide in states and countries where the practice is legal.

Alexander Raikin with the Ethics and Public Policy Center writes:

We have Oregon’s 2021 annual report on assisted suicide and correspondence with Colorado’s Vital Statistics Program, published in a 2024 peer-reviewed article by Chelsea Roff, which confirm that anorexia has been reported as the primary qualifying illness for assisted suicide. We also have a case study by Jennifer Gaudiani—an eating-disorder specialist and assisted suicide clinician in Colorado—on two of her patients with eating disorders who were prescribed assisted suicide.

The 2024 peer-reviewed article he cited found, “Assisted dying for reasons solely related to an eating disorder (ED) has occurred in multiple countries, including those which restrict the practice to individuals with a terminal condition.”

Researchers also identified at least 60 patients with eating disorders who underwent assisted suicide between 2012 and 2024. Although these people were supposed to have illnesses that were terminal, incurable, or untreatable, researchers said gaps in the data on assisted suicide raised “substantial concerns about oversight and public safety” and that in many cases the reasons for justifying assisted suicide were invalid.

Experience has shown that assisted suicide doesn’t help people who are sick and dying.

In parts of the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care, but have offered to cover assisted suicide drugs.

Patients in Europe and Canada reportedly have been denied care or actively euthanized as a result of assisted suicide laws.

Stories like these are part of the reason why Family Council has strongly opposed assisted suicide legislation in Arkansas.

Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide violate the sanctity of innocent human life.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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