Complaint filed in district court to stop assisted suicide law

Less than a month before terminally ill patients in Delaware have the right to end their own life, a lawsuit has been filed in Delaware District Court aimed to stop the new law.

“[The] End of Life Act’s passage is clear and present danger to people with life-threatening disabilities in Delaware. Persons who are identified as ‘terminal’ – i.e., people with life-threatening disabilities – are able to obtain assisted suicide,” reads the lawsuit filed Dec. 8 by Sean Curran, Delaware Adapt, Freedom Center for Independent Living and other patient rights groups.

The lawsuit contends that the new law, slated to go into effect Jan. 1, does not require any evaluation, screening or treatment by a mental health professional for serious mental illness, depression or treatable suicidality, all of which are necessary for informed consent and a truly autonomous choice, before the lethal prescription is written.

The lawsuit is asking the court for preliminary and permanent injunction preventing enforcement of the law by defendants Gov. Matt Meyer; Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Christen Linke Young; Joseph Parise, president of the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline; and the Delaware Board of Nursing and its President Jacqueline Mainwaring.

The complaint asks the court to declare the law in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause.

Relief such as the cost of the suit, attorney’s fees and expenses is also sought.