The Washington, D.C., Death With Dignity Act went into effect on June 6, 2017, authorizing the compassionate option of medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults to get a prescription they can take to end their life peacefully. Through our access campaign, Compassion & Choices continues to educate health care providers and residents of Washington, D.C., about medical aid in dying and the full breadth of end-of-life options.
We created a series of PSAs with Diane Rehm and Dr. Omega Silva to explain D.C.’s medical aid-in-dying law.
Compassion & Choices praised the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) today for announcing it supports laws giving mentally capable terminally ill adults with six months of fewer to live the option of medical aid in dying to peacefully end unbearable suffering. Medical aid in dying is authorized in the District of Columbia and six states (California,…
Advocates for laws in D.C. and six states that authorize medical aid in dying are urging members of Congress to oppose a House concurrent resolution wrongly claiming medical aid in dying “puts everyone…at risk of deadly harm.” The full resolution (H.Con.Res.80), introduced by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio) and cosponsored by Reps. Luis Correa (Calif.) and Juan…
Last Thursday, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton hosted an event at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 47th annual legislative conference to detail how Congress is usurping the District of Columbia’s autonomy to make its own laws. She introduced Compassion & Choices National Constituency Director Brandi Alexander to speak about the U.S. House of Representatives’ recent…
Supporters of D.C.’s Death with Dignity Act criticized the U.S. House of Representatives today for passing the 2018 D.C. Appropriations bill with a rider to repeal the District’s medical-aid-in-dying law. Similar to laws in six states, the D.C. Death with Dignity Act gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live the option…
As our battle to stop Congress from repealing D.C’s Death with Dignity Act continues, voices from all corners of the nation are getting louder. Compassion & Choices’ Week of Action around the matter resulted in an enormous response, and high-profile media outlets are speaking out as well. We started the Week of Action — an…
In today’s unprecedentedly crowded news cycle, when breaking stories seem to arrive by the hour, medical aid in dying remains a hot topic newspapers want to cover. In the past few weeks since the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment introduced by Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) to repeal the District of Columbia’s medical aid-in-dying law,…
For nearly two years, the elected officials and residents of the District of Columbia debated the D.C. Death with Dignity Act as an option for terminally ill adults to peacefully end unbearable suffering at the end of life. They held or participated in hearings, rallies, protests and town halls, and wrote to their local papers…
The following op-ed appeared on CNN.com on July 27, 2017: If you’re a legislator trying to repeal a health care law that passed with overwhelming support from both lawmakers and their constituents, you should at least read the law and know the facts about it. Apparently, Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, a practicing anesthesiologist, does not…
(Washington, D.C. – July 27, 2017) Supporters of D.C.’s Death with Dignity Act released a fact check video showing the sponsor of an amendment the House Appropriations Committee recently approved to repeal the D.C. law made numerous false claims about the law. The House Appropriations Committee voted 28-24 on July 13 to approve the amendment…
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