Many prominent Democrats and liberals also oppose legalization, including Bill Clinton, Ralph Nader, and noted civil liberties journalist Nat Hentoff.Īssisted suicide strikes many people, when they first hear about it, as a cause to support. Other key opponents include the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and its state affiliates, the American College of Physicians, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the American Cancer Society, many other medical organizations, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Among those are disability rights groups many nationally prominent disability rights organizations oppose the legalization of assisted suicide. The opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide is often mischaracterized as driven exclusively by religious conservatives, but most current opposition coalitions include many persons and organizations whose opposition is based on their progressive politics. In some cases, they also include organizations representing the Latino community, poor people, and workers. These coalitions typically represent disability rights organizations, physicians and other health care workers, hospice organizations, and Catholics and other right-to-life organizations. In many cases, the bills or referenda were defeated due to the efforts of an opposition coalition spanning the political spectrum from left to right. have either defeated bills to legalize it, or have passed laws explicitly banning it. While many people know that Oregon, Washington State, and California have legalized assisted suicide, it is less well known that approximately half the states in the U.S.

So-called “Narrow” Proposals Can Easily Expand.

The Questionable Circumstances of Oregon Deaths.

Minimal Data and Fatally Flawed Oversight.

One Visit, Rarely: The Impact on the Individual.

Ignoring What Lies Beneath: The Abandonment of the Patient.

The Danger to People with Depression and Psychiatric Disabilities.

Good Faith: A Safeguard for Doctors, Not Patients.

Alternatives: Presented But Not Provided.

Doctor Shopping: All Roads Lead to Rome.

The Fundamental Loophole of Terminal Illness Prognosis.

The Myth of Free Choice and Self-Determination.

The Failure of Safeguards and the Case of Oregon.

The Broad Indirect Impacts on Health Care.

A Deadly Mix: Managed Health Care and Assisted Suicide.

Fear, Bias, and Prejudice against Disability.

Few Helped, Many Harmed: Disability Prejudice and the Damage to Society.

Cry of fear suicide