Disability and patient advocacy organizations filed a federal lawsuit against Delaware for its medical aid in dying law, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the bill from going into effect Jan. 1.
State lawmakers approved the medical aid in dying bill last April after a decade of work to pass legislation allowing the option, also known as physician-assisted suicide. Gov. Matt Meyer signed it in May.
Plaintiffs against the law include Delaware citizen Sean Curran, the Freedom Center for Independent Living, Inc in Middletown, the Delaware chapter of ADAPT, the National Council on Independent Living, United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet and the Institute for Patients’ Rights.
The plaintiffs said the law is unconstitutional, violating the 14th Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act. They argued it creates a two-tiered system in medicine.
The Institute for Patients’ Rights executive director Matt Vallière said patients with six months or less to live would not be protected by liability laws.
“We see this as classic discrimination, taking a subset of a protected class and you're telling them they don't get the same protections as everybody else,” Vallière said. “So we're challenging the law.”
And Delaware ADAPT representative Daniese McMullin-Powell said people with disabilities will feel the brunt of the law’s effects.
“Under the new law, some people are going to be offered suicide prevention services, while others – like those with disabilities like me – will be prescribed a fast track to death because our lives are felt to be less valuable,” McMullin-Powell said. “And after all, if you have a severe disability, why wouldn't you want to just do away with yourself?”
The law allows terminally ill adults in Delaware to request and self-administer medication to end their life as long as they have “decision-making capacity” and approval from their physicians.
The law doesn’t require patients to be seen by mental health professionals to vet their wellbeing, which the lawsuit identified as a key problem.
Republican State Sen. Bryant Richardson (R-Seaford) brought forward two amendments to the bill earlier this year. One of the amendments sought to require an evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist to confirm the patient’s decision-making capacity.
The lawsuit argued assisted suicide in Delaware puts people at risk of premature death rather than prioritizing accessible health care and suicide prevention resources. It also said treatment failure is not guaranteed, even for patients labelled terminal. Plaintiffs claimed the law denies patients the chance to heal.
Vallière added similar lawsuits are pending in California and Colorado.
“One of them or another, or they could be folded together, could end up at the Supreme Court and end up with a binding decision by the High Court that would apply to the whole nation,” Vallière said. “We would hope that that happens and that assisted suicide laws are abolished in this country for our lifetimes.”
The groups want to see a temporary restraining order halt implementation of the law next month while the court hears its suit.
