A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on federal health officials to crack down on potential abuse in hospice settings where medically assisted suicide is available, warning that vulnerable patients may be subtly coerced into ending their lives.
The members of Congress sent a letter Thursday to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requesting strict monitoring rules to prevent discrimination and mistreatment. The group includes Republican Senator James Lankford, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, Republican Representative Greg Murphy, and Democratic Representative Jose Luis Correa.
"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 said in a statement.
The lawmakers specifically asked federal authorities to investigate whether insurance companies are denying life-sustaining medical coverage while offering to pay for physician-assisted suicide drugs instead. They also want closer scrutiny of whether hospices comply with federal bans on using public funds for medically assisted suicide services.
Thirteen states plus Washington, D.C. currently permit medically assisted suicide, with New York and California among them. Eligible patients are typically adults with terminal diagnoses and six months or less to live who self-administer prescribed lethal medication under state law.
The congressional letter highlighted a particular concern: the witness requirement for assisted suicide may not adequately protect elderly patients from financial pressure. Witnesses could themselves benefit from a patient's death through inheritance or life insurance proceeds, creating a potential conflict of interest.
Older adults and people with disabilities face elevated risk of being pressured into ending their lives, lawmakers said. Disability rights advocates have warned that legalizing physician-assisted suicide sends a troubling message about how society values the lives of people with disabilities.
Since 1997, at least 14,446 Americans have died by physician-assisted suicide, according to the nonprofit Aging With Dignity.
Author James Rodriguez: "This is a legitimate concern that shouldn't be ignored by those who support end-of-life options. Safeguards protecting vulnerable patients are not obstacles to compassionate care, they're essential to it."
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