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New York Biomedical Roundtable

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---Reasons to Oppose Physician Assisted Suicide---

Perverse Financial Incentives

Assisted suicide gives insurance companies and governments the ability to save money by pushing lethal drugs that are less expensive than treatment. This has happened in Oregon and California where patients were refused coverage of life-saving treatment and offered lethal drugs instead. 

  • One of the founders of the assisted suicide movement, Derek Humphry, stated “….economics , not the question of broadened liberties or increased autonomy, will drive assisted suicide to the plateau of acceptable practice.” 
  • Canadian officials estimated that assisted suicide and euthanasia could reduce annual spending by between $34.7 million and $138.8 million compared to $1.5 million to $14.8 million spent on lethal drugs.

Mental Health

Only 66 (4%) of the 1,657 patients who died by assisted suicide in Oregon since its legalization in 1998 were referred for psychiatric evaluation.  

Pain is Not the Issue

Inadequate pain control is not among the top five reasons patients in Oregon and Washington request lethal drugs.   

Inaccurate Morality Predictions

A six-month prognosis for death is extremely difficult to predict accurately, with many patients living far beyond the six months. A major study of physician prognoses in Chicago revealed that of 468 predictions, only 20% were accurate in predicting when death would occur. In another study, “No group accurately predicted the length of patient survival more than 50% of the time.”  

Lethal Drugs not Limited to the Dying

Patients who are not dying may receive lethal drugs. The definition of terminal illness under assisted suicide laws includes patients who refuse treatment and might live for many years, and diabetes has been listed as a reason someone received lethal drugs.   

Higher Suicide Rates in States with Assisted Suicide

A CDC report reveals that from 1999-2010, suicide among those aged 35-64 increased 49% in Oregon as compared to a 28% increase nationally.  

Risk of Coercion

No trained medical personnel are required to be present at the time the lethal drugs are taken or at the time of death, creating the opportunity for an heir or abusive caregiver to coerce the patient to take the deadly drugs or put them in the patient’s food without the patient’s knowledge or consent.

Reading Material

Learn More:

Government Documents:

  • Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada (2023).
  • "Written Evidence Submitted Professor Theo Boer," UK Parliament Committees, 2023.


Academic Journals:

  • Christopher Lyon, Trudo Lemmens & Scott Y. H. Kim (2025) Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying: Provider Concentration, Policy Capture, and Need for Reform, The American Journal of Bioethics
  • Miller FG & Appelbaum PS.  Physician-Assisted Death for Psychiatry Patients – Misguided Public Policy. NEJM 2018; 378:883-885.
  • Snijdewind MC, et al. JAMA Internal Medicine 2015; 175:1633-1640.
  • Lerner BH & Caplan AL.  Euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands: On a Slippery Slope? JAMA Internal Medicine 2015; 175:1640-1641.
  • Emmanuel EJ & Battin MP, NEJM 1998; 339:167-172.
  • Chochinov HM & Fins JJ. Is Medical Assistance in Dying Part of Palliative Care? JAMA. 2024.
  • Kussmaul III, WG. The Slippery Slope of Physician-Assisted Suicide. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017; 167;595-596..
  • https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/ethics-opinions/physician-assisted-suicide


Media:

  • Beware Assisted Suicide’s Fog of Ambiguity, National Review
  • United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths, March 2025
  • UN Human Rights Experts: "Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted dying – UN experts" 
  •  Liz Carr's YouTube post “Better off Dead” 5/14/24 - 1 hour long but very worthwhile!
  • Letter from the Columbia BMR to the NY State Legislature
  • OpEd by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, 4/7/2024
  • Letter to the Editor in The Economist, Dr. Eve Slater
  • "Assisted Death and The Economist," Richard M. Doerflinger, The Public Discourse, 2024.
  • "Open Letter From Doctors" Against Assisted Suicide
  • AMA Retains Policy Against Assisted Suicide, National Review 
  • "A Change of Heart on Assisted Suicide", Diane Meier, New York Times, 1998.
  • "The Death Treatment", Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 2015.
  • "What Euthanasia Has Done to Canada", Ross Douthat, New York Times, 2022.
  • "Euthanasia ‘Impossible to Police’ for Law-Breaking," Theo Boer, The Law Society of Ireland Gazette Magazine, 2023.
  • “Letter To New York Legislators Opposing Assisted Suicide Bill S.2445," Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 2023.
  • www.nosuicideny.org


Books:

  • The Lost Art of Dying, Lydia Dugdale, HarperOne, 2020. 

/Users/eveslater/Desktop/CBMR edited.docx

Pending Legislation

These are pending New York bills which would legalize PAS.
Proposed Senate Bill S-138Proposed Assembly Bill A-136Our Open Letter to the NY State Legislature

Key Stats From Above 2023 Canadian Report

3,399

3,399

3,399

The number of Canadians who received AS/AD for isolation and/or loneliness

431

3,399

3,399

The number of Canadians who died by AS/AD and who sought but did not receive palliative care services

432

3,399

432

The number of Canadians who died by AS/AD and who required but did not receive disability support services

Other Resources

Other organizations with which to connect:

  • Patient Rights Action Fund
  • Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC)
  • Christian Medical & Dental Association (CMDA)
  • Vivre dans la Dignite
  • International Doctors Say No

Copyright © 2023-2024 Columbia Biomedical Roundtable - All Rights Reserved.

This organization and its website only reflect individual views; it does not reflect any institutional views, including those of Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons or New York Presbyterian Hospital.

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