Assisted Suicide

In 1999, faced with a bill in the California legislature to legalize assisted suicide, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) joined ten other nationally prominent disability organizations in adopting a position against the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

On its face assisted suicide seems like a sensible and humane policy. But on closer inspection, legalization is a serious mistake for many reasons that are not always immediately evident. Supporters often focus solely on issues of choice and self-determination, but we think it is crucial to look deeper.

It is imperative to separate our private wishes for what we each may hope to have available for ourselves some day from the significant dangers of legalizing assisted suicide as public policy. Assisted suicide would have many unintended consequences.

In 2008, the greatest danger is a voter initiative to legalize assisted suicide, aimed at Washington State's November ballot. See the Washington Coalition Against Assisted Suicide.

Find out why DREDF regards the legalization of assisted suicide as a dangerous mistake.

  1. Read DREDF's statement on the issue

  2. Read recent Op Eds by Marilyn Golden, DREDF Policy Analyst:

    1. An Op Ed targeted at progressive readers in Beyond Chron, April 12, 2005

    2. An Op Ed in the Sacramento, California Capitol Weekly, April 26, 2007

    3. An Op Ed in the San Jose Mercury News, March 1, 2007

  3. See the lists of disability organizations and individuals who oppose the legalization of assisted suicide

    1. See the list of California and national disability organizations

    2. See the list of Washington state and national disability organizations and individuals

  4. See a one-page summary of Some Oregon Abuses and Complications

  5. See a one-page summary of The Risks of Legalization

  6. See three one-page leaflets about assisted suicide in Oregon, compiled by Dr. Paul Longmore, Professor of History, San Francisco State University:

    1. Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and AB 374: Spurious Safeguards

    2. Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and AB 374: Flimsy Reporting, No Regulation

    3. Oregon's Death with Dignity Act: Pro-Suicide Doctors

  7. Failed Attempts to Legalize Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide in the United States

  8. Read an article about Oregon and the Netherlands by Dr. Herbert Hendin in Psychiatric Times. Dr. Hendin is a Director of Suicide Prevention International and the Medical Director of the Department of Psychiatry at New York Medical College. He was formerly the Medical Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

  9. Read testimony by Dr. Gregory Hamilton focusing on problems posed by assisted suicide in Oregon for people with mental health disabilities. Dr. Hamilton is Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Co-founder of Physicians for Compassionate Care.

  10. Read testimony by Dr. Rex Greene to the California Medical Association in 2006. Dr. Greene is the former Medical Director of the Dorothy E. Schneider Cancer Center at Mills Health Center in San Mateo, California; currently a member of the AMA Ethics Council; and a leader in bioethics, health policy and oncology.

  11. See a chart showing Theory vs. Practice: Oregon Physician-Assisted Suicide compiled by Dr. Robert Orr, President of the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care.

  12. See the website of Not Dead Yet, which represents the disability rights movement's opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia, including articles such as:

    1. NDY President Diane Coleman's Testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, May 25, 2006

    2. NDY President Diane Coleman's article: Assisted Suicide and Disability: Another Perspective

  13. Read Spotlight on Oregon from the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Also read The Oregon Experience with Physician-Assisted Suicide prepared by the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare. Starting about halfway through, this report describes the many Oregon problem cases the media have brought to light.

  14. See a 2004 study from the Journal of Palliative Care showing a reduction in the quality of palliative care at end-of-life in Oregon since assisted suicide began.

    1. Press release about the study

    2. The study itself

  15. Read the book The Case Against Assisted Suicide - For the Right to End-of-Life Care, edited by Kathleen Foley, M.D., and Herbert Hendin, M.D., John Hopkins University Press, 2002, $26.95 in paperback.

    Two outstanding chapters are:

    1. Chapter 8, "Oregon's Culture of Silence" by Dr. Gregory Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton is Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Co-founder of Physicians for Compassionate Care.

    2. Chapter 10, "Not Dead Yet" by Diane Coleman, President of Not Dead Yet.