A coalition of groups advocating for people with life-threatening disabilities has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Governor Matt Meyer and other state officials seeking to block the implementation of Delaware’s medically assisted suicide law.
Signed by the governor in May, the statute will establish a multi-step process allowing Delawareans with a life expectancy of less than six months to obtain and self-administer a lethal dosage of a prescribed drug.
Under the legislation, a designated medical professional must confirm that the patient seeking suicide could make an informed, rational, and voluntary decision. The process also includes two waiting periods and would not allow anyone to request the fatal dosage on behalf of another.
Delaware’s End of Life Options Act is scheduled to go into effect on January 1 or as soon as final regulations are in place.
Among the objections cited by the plaintiffs are that the “new law does not require any evaluation, screening, or treatment by a mental health professional for serious mental illness, depression, or treatable suicidality, all of which are necessary for informed consent and a truly autonomous choice.”
They further maintain that the law “will create a two-tiered medical system in which people who are suicidal receive radically different treatment responses by their providers and protections from the state government.”
The plaintiffs also say the law discriminates against people with life-threatening disabilities by arbitrarily depriving them of safeguards afforded to others. “The state government funds and provides mental health care, supportive services, and other suicide prevention measures to non-disabled people who express a wish to die, but the Act, by default, will channel and steer persons with disabilities, including people with eating disorders, spinal cord injuries, and other life-threatening or terminal disabilities toward assisted suicide instead.”
During the debate on the bill last spring, House Republicans opposed the legislation, citing many of the same concerns stipulated in the lawsuit:
- State Rep. Valerie Jones Giltner (R-Georgetown) said she viewed the bill as a slippery slope, believing its scope would be quickly expanded to include non-terminal conditions. She said people with costly medical needs could easily feel pressured into opting for assisted suicide to give their families financial relief.
- State Rep. Jeff Hilovsky (R-Long Neck, Oak Orchard) cited Canada’s experience with medically assisted suicide after having enacted a national law in 2016. In its first year, 1,018 people chose to end their lives under the program. According to the most recent statistics, 15,343 people received suicide assistance in 2023–about one out of every 20 deaths in the country that year. He said he believed the rapid increase was symptomatic of a growing societal acceptance of devaluing certain people’s lives.
