"The simplest framing of what is wrong with [assisted suicide] is that it leads to the government operating two competing suicide hotlines, and being, at best, indifferent about which one you call. On one line, people will tell you that every life is worthwhile and that your loved ones do not despise you for your frailties. On the other, a kind doctor will solicitously schedule you for a lethal cocktail or injection."

The urgent priority for the global health community is to address avoidable suffering alongside avoidable mortality. This approach requires universal access to preventive, curative, and palliative interventions, and commitment to address the social and structural determinants of living well and dying well.

Kevin Yuill writes, "Social care poses far fewer ethical concerns than assisted suicide...We all agree that care for elderly, ill and disabled people needs to be provided as widely as possible. The only real points of contention concern the amount of resources and public funds that should be allocated to this end, and how those funds should be raised."

"Those who can’t afford care may face coercion from family members as a result of elder abuse. Just as the state has offloaded the costs, support, and care onto disabled people and families, they are offloading culpability for the decision of MAiD onto individuals and families."

PRAF is a leading national, non-partisan single-issue organization that protects the rights of patients, people with disabilities, older adults, and other historically underrepresented groups from deadly harm and discrimination inherent in assisted suicide laws.

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