A bipartisan group of US lawmakers urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday to implement strict hospice reporting rules to prevent discrimination and coercion in medically assisted suicide.
Lawmakers warn of pressure on vulnerable groups
The members of Congress warned that older adults, people with disabilities, and those with disaffected caregivers face a particular risk of being pressured to end their lives. “Every person has inherent worth and dignity, including those facing their final days,” said Republican Senator James Lankford in a statement. “Hospice should be a place of compassion, comfort, and care, where the suffering are surrounded by loved ones and quality health care, not a place where they feel quietly pressured to end their lives through assisted suicide.”
Lankford, along with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, Republican Representative Greg Murphy, and Democratic Representative Jose Luis Correa, signed a joint letter asking HHS and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to monitor the practice.
Specific requests for monitoring
The lawmakers specifically requested that monitoring cover discriminatory practices, whether insurance companies deny life-sustaining medical care but offer to cover physician-assisted suicide drugs instead, and compliance with federal restrictions that ban using federal funds for physician-assisted suicide items or services, among other investigations.
While federal funds are legally barred from supporting medically assisted suicide, 13 states – including New York and California – and the District of Columbia allow it. Eligible patients are generally adults diagnosed with a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less, who self-administer prescribed lethal medication.
Concerns about devaluation of disabled lives
“Many individuals with disabilities warn that states legalizing physician-assisted suicide send the message that the lives of persons with disabilities are less valued in society,” reads the letter. Lawmakers also expressed concern that the witness requirement for assisted suicide may fail to protect elderly patients from financial abuse, as witnesses could benefit financially from the patient’s death through wills or life insurance.
The non-profit organization Aging With Dignity reported in March that at least 14,446 Americans have died by physician-assisted suicide since 1997.
