Curran v. Meyer

At a Glance:

On December 19, 2025, three intervenors, including Compassion & Choices Action Network, filed a motion to intervene and oppose a lawsuit seeking to invalidate Delaware’s newly-passed Heather Block/Ron Silverio End of Life Options Act. The lawsuit aims to prevent the Act from taking effect on January 1, 2026 as scheduled. The proposed intervenors are represented by Compassion Legal: The End-of-Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices and Delaware counsel Mary Dugan and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP.

On December 30, 2025, Judge Gregory B. Williams dismissed the lawsuit entirely, agreeing that the Delaware End-of-Life Options Act is entirely voluntary and contains numerous safeguards to ensure eligibility is limited to terminally ill individuals with less than six months to live. On December 31, 2025, the plaintiffs filed their Notice of Appeal with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Details:

Curran v. Meyer was filed on December 8, 2025 in Delaware federal court by an anti-medical aid in dying organization, an individual with disabilities, and other organizations, to oppose the January 1, 2026 implementation of Delaware’s End of Life Options Act. The Delaware lawsuit is very similar to United Spinal v. California, which was dismissed by a California federal district court judge in 2024 and is currently on appeal, and United Spinal v. Colorado, which is ongoing. Compassion Legal moved to intervene in both United Spinal v. California and United Spinal v. Colorado.

On December 19, 2025, two individuals living with disabilities and Compassion & Choices Action Network filed a motion to intervene in Curran v. Meyer to oppose the lawsuit seeking to invalidate Delaware’s End of Life Options Act. 

Delaware’s End of Life Options Act was signed into law by Governor Matthew Meyers on May 20, 2025 to give qualified individuals the freedom to make personal, compassionate choices for themselves at the end of life. The Intervenors are fighting to ensure that Delawareans facing terminal illness retain access to medical aid in dying as one of many end-of-life healthcare options.

Our Intervenors are:

• Vickie George, a Delaware resident and founder of the nonprofit Yes U Can USA. Diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 1995, Vickie is quadriplegic and requires 24-hour care. A long-time advocate of healthcare autonomy and choice, Vickie wants the option of medical aid in dying available if and when she is given a terminal diagnosis of 6 months or less; 
• Susan Boyce, a Delaware resident diagnosed with a rare progressive, terminal, genetic disease. Susan’s diagnosis impairs her ability to perform day-to-day activities and she is disabled as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Susan wants the option of medical aid in dying available to her when her disease progresses to the point that she will have 6 months or less to live;  
• And C&C Action Network, Compassion & Choices’s 501(c)4 organization. 

The Intervenors seek to ensure that medical aid in dying is timely enacted in Delaware so that qualified, terminally ill individuals can choose from the full range of healthcare options that best aligns with their values and beliefs. The Intervenors argue that Delaware’s medical aid-in-dying law does not deprive the plaintiffs of any supportive services, but rather provides an additional end-of-life healthcare option that qualified, terminally ill patients can either choose or decline to utilize.