US lawmakers urge stricter monitoring of medically assisted suicide in hospices
Summary
U.S. lawmakers asked the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to create stricter rules to watch over medically assisted suicide in hospices. They want to make sure no one is pressured or treated unfairly, especially older adults and people with disabilities.Key Facts
- Lawmakers from both political parties sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
- They want strict hospice reporting rules to prevent discrimination and coercion in assisted suicide.
- Concerns include insurance companies denying life-saving care but covering assisted suicide drugs instead.
- Federal money cannot be used for assisted suicide, but some states like New York and California allow it.
- Patients eligible for assisted suicide usually have a terminal illness and six months or less to live.
- Lawmakers worry that the witness rule might not stop financial abuse, where witnesses could gain money after a patient’s death.
- Disability groups say legal assisted suicide may send a message that disabled lives are less valuable.
- Since 1997, over 14,000 Americans have died using physician-assisted suicide, according to a nonprofit group.
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