One woman and a coalition of four disability groups are suing the state of Colorado, arguing that its law allowing assisted suicide discriminates against people with disabilities.
Key Takeaways:
- The federal lawsuit filed Monday claims Colorado’s End of Life Options Act is unconstitutional and discriminates against those with disabilities.
- The plaintiffs allege that while suicidal people are traditionally given suicide prevention help, those who are disabled are instead pushed toward suicide.
The Details:
The lawsuit was filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in Denver. It says the law discriminates unjustly against those who are disabled, while also complaining it “does not require any evaluation, screening, or treatment by a mental health professional for serious mental illness, depression, or treatable suicidality before the lethal prescription is written.”
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the assisted suicide law has been used to allow the deaths of people who are not terminally ill. As Live Action News has previously reported, at least one doctor in the state has admitted that she has prescribed suicide drugs to patients suffering from anorexia nervosa — a mental condition that is not considered terminal.
The plaintiffs include the United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Atlantis Adapt, Institute for Patients’ Rights, and Mary Gossman, a 26-year-old woman who has anorexia and depression. They are operating under an umbrella group called End Assisted Suicide.
Matt Vallière, executive director of the Institute for Patients’ Rights, told Fox 31 that the current law “violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and parts of the U.S. Constitution.” He noted that while typically, suicidal people receive help to discourage death, disabled people are instead pushed toward opting for assisted suicide.
“Some people get suicide prevention, other people get suicide help,” Vallière said. “The people who get suicide help are all people with disabilities.”
This message was seconded by Dawn Russell, a disability advocate with ADAPT Denver. “If you don’t have a disability, you get suicide prevention. If you do — they treat you like your life isn’t worth living,” Russell said.
The Backstory:
Colorado’s assisted suicide law was first passed in 2016, but in 2024, Governor Jared Polis signed legislation that expanded the law and removed many of its original safeguards.
Among the changes were allowing non-physicians, like APRNs, to administer assisted suicide drugs. In addition, the waiting period for assisted suicide was reduced from 15 days to seven days.
The Other Side:
Those named in the lawsuit — including Polis, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the state medical board, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment — all declined to comment on the situation.
But Kevin Díaz, president and CEO of Compassion & Choices, defended the law:
The Colorado Medical Aid in Dying law sets forth rigorous safeguards, including the requirement that individuals must have the capacity to make informed health care decisions.
Participation is entirely voluntary, and the process remains firmly under the control of the terminally ill person through the mandate of self-administration.
Importantly, having a disability alone does not qualify someone for eligibility.
The Bottom Line:
Though the law’s defenders cite safeguards to prevent its abuse, 2024’s legislation shows that those safeguards are always at risk of being eliminated.
Further, anecdotal evidence — especially out of Canada — shows that when assisted suicide and euthanasia are options, those in the disability community are routinely targeted as candidates for death.
