On January 29, Compassion Legal: The End-of-Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices, along with Ryan Chabot of WilmerHale, filed a motion to intervene in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of two Delaware end-of-life advocates and Compassion & Choices Action Network (the Action Network) in response to an appeal filed by a group of plaintiffs led by the anti-medical-aid-in-dying group, Institute for Patients’ Rights.
The appeal comes after a federal judge in Delaware denied the request of plaintiffs including the Institute for Patients’ Rights to temporarily block the Ron Silvero/Heather Block End-of-Life Options Act (EOLOA), which authorized medical-aid-in-dying in the state, from taking effect on January 1, 2026. On December 30, Judge Gregory B. Williams dismissed the lawsuit entirely, agreeing that the Delaware EOLOA is completely voluntary and contains numerous safeguards to ensure that eligibility is limited to terminally ill individuals with less than six months to live.
While Compassion Legal filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Susan Boyce, Vickie George, and the Action Network in the district court case, that motion was denied as moot when Judge Williams dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety. The January 29 motion to intervene, filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, asserts that Ms. George, Ms. Boyce, and the Action Network should be granted intervenor status in the appeal to ensure the court is informed about the full impact of any ruling blocking access to the EOLOA.
The motion to intervene in the appeal is available here.
This appeal is part of the third lawsuit of its kind filed by the Institute for Patients’ Rights since 2023; they also challenged access to existing medical aid-in-dying laws in California and Colorado. Access to medical-aid-in-dying was not interrupted in either of those cases, and the California lawsuit was similarly dismissed at the district court level.
“We look forward to participating in the appeal process to ensure that Judge Williams’ ruling is affirmed, and that qualified, terminally ill people in Delaware have access to a full range of end-of-life healthcare options,” said Veronica Darling, Director of Litigation with Compassion Legal. “The Act reflects the wishes of over 70% of Delaware voters who support access to this end-of-life care.”
Compassion Legal’s clients include Susan Boyce, a Delaware resident living with a rare, incurable, and irreversible genetic form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Vickie George, a Delaware resident living with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis and quadriplegia, who is an advocate for healthcare autonomy.
“I look forward to ensuring the law stays in effect,” Ms. Boyce said. “Knowing the law is available if and when I ever want it allows me to continue to focus on living my life to the fullest, not fearing death and the dying process.”
“Autonomy and choice in healthcare decisions is important for all Delawareans,” said Ms. George. “I am happy to work with Compassion Legal and WilmerHale to keep this important healthcare option available to Delawareans who qualify.”
“Terminally-ill Delawareans deserve the full-range of high quality end-of-life healthcare options,” said Ryan Chabot, Partner at WilmerHale. “The outcome of this lawsuit will have a profound impact on Ms. Boyce and Ms. George, who wish to have the option of aid-in-dying, and on the Action Network, who advocated for the bill. We are hopeful the Third Circuit will allow our clients to intervene and hear their critical voices.”
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