Compassion & Choices Action Network is proud to share that due to our decade of relentless advocacy in Delaware, House Bill 140, authorizing medical aid in dying, has been signed into law May 20, 2025, by Governor Matt Meyer. This makes Delaware the 12th U.S. jurisdiction to affirm the rights of terminally ill adults to die peacefully on their own terms.
Victory in Delaware! Delaware is now the 12th jurisdiction to authorize medical aid in dying.
By a two-to-one margin, Delaware residents feel that allowing doctors to legally prescribe lethal drugs to help terminally ill patients end their own lives should be an end-of-life option in the state. Read the Delaware polling memo.
An excerpt from the Delaware Business Times, “Viewpoint: COVID-19 crisis demonstrates urgent need for end-of-life planning,” by Compassion & Choices President and CEO Kim Callinan, published April 15, 2020: Thousands of Americans have died from coronavirus, with countless heartbreaking stories. Many families have been separated from a loved one who dies alone in a…
An excerpt from the Delaware State News commentary, “End-of-life planning moves to the forefront,” by Compassion & Choices President and CEO Kim Callinan, published April 15, 2020: Thousands of Americans have died from coronavirus, with countless heartbreaking stories. Many families have been separated from a loved one who dies alone in a hospital bed….
An excerpt from Delaware Public Media article, “Physican-assisted suicide bill finds support in a new poll,” published March 11, 2020: …House Bill 140 would give terminally ill adults with under six months to live and unbearable suffering the option to request prescription medication they can use to die peacefully. A survey conducted between January…
An excerpt from WHYY public radio article, “Medication assisted suicide gets broad support in Delaware poll,” published March 11, 2020: New Jersey and Maine became the eighth and ninth states to allow people with terminal illnesses to end their lives with medical help in 2019. Now, lawmakers in Delaware are hoping a new poll…
In a recent statewide survey, 72 percent of Delawareans who plan to vote in November say they support medical-aid-in-dying legislation introduced in the state legislature. The Ron Silverio/Heather Block Delaware End of Life Options Act (HB 140) would allow a terminally ill adult who has decision-making capability the right to request and self- administer medication…
An excerpt from a Delaware Online letter to the editor by Milton resident Lorraine Anderson, “Don’t be afraid of HB 140,” published Jan. 31, 2020: As a nurse, I must disagree with a letter written by Bess McAneny that said “HB 140 is dangerous…” This compassionate legislation includes safeguards designed to protect terminally ill people,…
Delaware State Representative Paul Baumbach wrote an op-ed for Delaware Online about his support for medical aid-in-dying legislation. He said, “We named our bill HB 140, to honor the memory of Delawareans Ron Silverio and Heather Block. Both recently deceased, they were passionate advocates of medical aid in dying. They died without access to this…
Compassion & Choices is urging Delaware lawmakers to move the Ron Silverio/Heather Block Delaware End of Life Options Act (HB 140), the state’s medical aid-in-dying legislation, out of committee so that the entire House of Representatives can consider this important bill. Compassion and Choices’ call to the Delaware legislature comes after similar bills were…
Compassion & Choices today released a video featuring Tom La Follette, a New Castle County resident who is battling Kaposi’s sarcoma, a terminal, opportunistic infection from HIV/AIDS. This past year, Tom joined thousands of his fellow Delawareans in advocating for the state’s legislature to pass the End of Life Options Act, HB 160, Delaware’s proposed…
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