For too long, assisted suicide has been viewed by the public with little skepticism and repeatedly boosted and normalized in the media.
Assisted suicide legalization is bad medicine and even worse public policy. It abandons the sick, destroys human equality by creating a killable caste of people, and cheapens the intrinsic dignity of human life. Moreover, the supposed “strict safeguards” are neither strict — for example, relying on doctor self-reporting — nor particularly protective. Besides, as soon as the law goes into place, the safeguards are quickly redefined as “obstacles” to a good death and the process of loosening the law commences.
These and other myriad problems have gotten the attention of Senators James Lankford (R., Okla.) and Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who along with two representative sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking for oversight over the practice in the hospice context. Among their expressed concerns (citations omitted):
- “There are grave informed consent issues within physician-assisted suicide. Patients spend little time with the physician providing physician-assisted suicide relative to the course of their disease.”
- “Only 0.5% of patients received mental health referrals, even though many physician assisted suicide patients show signs of depression, which can impair the decision-making process.”
- “Physician-assisted suicide drugs are not approved for the purpose of ending human life…Instead, medical practitioners prescribe drugs approved for other indications to be used “off-label” for physician-assisted suicide.”
- “Individuals with disabilities and disability civil rights groups have raised this argument and alleged physician-assisted suicide laws violate federal disability rights laws in litigation across the country.
- Annual state reports have shown that patients seeking assistance in ending their lives commonly do so, not due to pain or concerns about future pain, but for disability-related reasons, citing concerns about “loss of autonomy,” being “less able to engage in activities,” and “loss of dignity.””
- “Age discrimination and elder abuse are also concerns within physician-assisted suicide practices. Most physician-assisted suicide patients are age 65 or older (86.2% in Washington). Although physician-assisted suicide laws require two witnesses to the lethal drug request, most states only require one witness to be disinterested, meaning, one of these witnesses may be a beneficiary to the patient’s will or life insurance policy or a disaffected caregiver.”
- “Physician assisted suicide laws do not require a prescriber or any witnesses to be present when the patient self-administers the drugs. These circumstances enable the possibility of financial exploitation.”
- “Physician-assisted suicide undermines America’s national posture of suicide prevention. America is facing an epidemic of suicide. In 2024, we lost more than 50,000 Americans to suicide and over 1.5 million Americans attempted suicide.”
The legislators ask Kennedy to “establish reporting requirements within hospice programs regarding physician-assisted suicide,” to monitor:
- Discrimination against individuals with disabilities, older adults, and other vulnerable populations;
- Proper disposal of unused medication and prevention of drug diversion;
- Insurance denials of life-sustaining medical care that offer to cover physician-assisted suicide drugs instead;
- Drug complications;
- Consistency of drugs prescribed “off-label” for use in physician-assisted suicide;
- Compliance with federal restrictions on using funds, directly or indirectly, for health care items or services for physician-assisted suicide.
This is long overdue. For too long, assisted suicide has been viewed by the public with little skepticism and repeatedly boosted and normalized in the media — with a few exceptions — as the truly compassionate and dignified choice. In other words, most of what people know about the practice is one-sided and, from my perspective, badly slanted.
Let us hope that Kennedy accedes to the legislators’ request and engages urgently needed federal oversight over assisted suicide in the hospice context — which is well within the federal government’s purview. The more we know about assisted suicide as actually practiced — rather than as promoted by boosters — the better we can judge whether legalization is truly beneficent or wise.