SCOTUS Ruling that Abortion is Not Constitutionally Protected Is Troubling Trend of Restricting Patient–Directed Care, Group Says
Ruling Undermines All Patient Medical Decision-Making
Jun 24, 2022 court ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court’s official ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that a constitutional right to abortion no longer exists, potentially threatens patient-directed end-of-life care, according to the nation’s largest end-of-life care advocacy organization.
“Any ruling that undermines patient-directed care undermines all patient medical decision-making,” said Kevin Díaz, the chief legal advocacy officer for Compassion & Choices, whose mission is to expand and improve healthcare options at the end of life. “Restrictions on end-of-life care include voiding pregnant people’s advance directives, ignoring the decision-making authority of a patient’s healthcare proxy, redefining the legal definition of death to keep patients on life support against their will, and allowing physicians opposed to medical aid in dying to refuse to transfer a patient’s medical records to a physician willing to provide this option. We will use every tool at our disposal to combat this troubling trend until we reverse it.”