113 articles
A new assisted-suicide clinic in New York plans to charge up to $12,000 per suicide facilitation, including medical evaluations and a prescription for lethal drugs. This creates significant financial incentives for doctors, with some already earning millions by assisting suicides, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and the lack of long-term doctor-patient relationships.
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition On February 6, 2026, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the assisted suicide bill with the law caming into effect on August 5 . This is terrible news as it will lead to the deaths of many people, at a vulnerable time of their life by lethal poison. To increase the demand for assisted suicide the New York Times published an article on September 3 by Emma Goldberg promoting a new assisted suicide "business". Goldberg describes it as a business "start-up" for assisted suicide. In reality the article is providing free ad
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition John Pring reported for the Disability New Service on September 3, 2026 that the British government admitted that disabled people may face 'subtle pressure' to choose assisted suicide if the assisted suicide bill becomes law. Pring reported that: The impact assessment was published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last Thursday (August 28). The assessment’s publication came on the same day that prime minister Andy Burnham wrote to Labour MPs to say he would not vote on the b
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition I have good news. Justice Carissima Mathen denied Claire Brosseau and Dying With Dignity an injunction to approve Brosseau to be killed by euthanasia (MAiD) based on mental illness as the sole criteria. Brosseau lives in Toronto Ontario. ( Link to the court decision ). The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) intervened in the Brosseau case and participated in the hearings on July 21/22, 2026. ( Read ). The cost to intervene in a court case is prohibitive. EPC continues to need at least $20,000 in donations to cover ou
Read →The following article by Zubir Ahmad was published by the Guardian on August 25, 2026 . Usually we comment on an article, but Dr Zubir Ahmad it was better to simply republish this article. The British parliament will once again vote-on an assisted suicide bill on September 11, 2026. The new bill is nearly identical to the previous bill. Dr Zubir Ahmad By Dr Zubir Ahmad As a doctor, I have spent much of my professional life caring for people at some of the most vulnerable moments they will ever face. I have seen the anxiety that surrounds the prospect of dying, and the desperate wis
Read →A major article in the Journal of Health & Biomedical Law argues that doctors have an ethical obligation to inform patients about voluntary stop eating and drinking (VSED) as a means to hasten death and to provide palliative care to ease the suffering caused by this method, even if it conflicts with their moral conscience. The article also supports the use of advance directives to refuse nourishment during VSED and suggests that caregivers should deny food or drink if the patient becomes confused and requests it, framing this as a duty under the principle of non-abandonment.
Read →Gordon Friesen By Gordon Friesen President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition One of our great friends and allies, Wesley J. Smith, has recently written about the British Medical Association's newly minted policy and other bioethics articles which require doctors to collaborate with patients who are attempting to kill themselves through hunger and thirst. This practice is commonly euphemized as ‘voluntarily stopping eating and drinking’, which ungainly expression is then replaced with the more slick-sounding acronym ‘VSED’. However we must unfortunately note (as usual) that the most important fa
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Do not ask me about euthanasia . I am not interested. I was contacted by a woman who called us on behalf of her elderly Aunt who was receiving treatment in a hospital in London Ontario. The Aunt wanted to know if there was anything that could be done to stop the MAiD team from asking her if she wanted MAiD. The woman told me that her Aunt was asked, if she wanted euthanasia twice, in a pretty persuasive manner, and she said NO. The woman told me that her Aunt was very upset because the person in the bed next to her was sold e
Read →Alex Schadenberg and Marcel Lemmen are running a half-marathon on September 27, 2026 to raise money for the Compassionate Community Charity (CCC) and/or the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. This is the seventh consecutive year that Alex and Marcel are running the half-marathon fund-raiser for CCC and EPC. The money raised for CCC from the previous 6 half-marathon runs combined is almost $90,000. Donations from the half-marathon (21.1 km) run are very much appreciated. The Compassionate Community Care (CCC) charity operates a help-line, a training program for visiting seniors
Read →Meghan Schrader By Meghan Schrader Meghan is a disability activists and a member of the EPC-USA board. As I’ve said, I think that one of the most effective ways to prevent euthanasia is for euthanasia opponents to be thinking about what kind of world we want people with disabilities to live in, and do what we can to link euthanasia prevention to creating a better world. Hence, I think it’s valuable for euthanasia opponents to be aware of the trend towards broad re-institutionalization that is happening in the United States right now, especially since we know that coerced institutionaliza
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Australia's Northern Territory I have sad news. Australia's Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction in the world to legalize assisted suicide between 1996 - 97, and once again has legalized assisted suicide. Joseph Hathaway-Wilson reported for ABC News Australia on August 27 that: The Northern Territory Parliament has passed a bill legalising voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in the NT, with significant restrictions on accessing, and initiating conversations about, the practice. The NT is now both the first and last
Read →Dr. Mark Komrad The following comments were provided by Dr. Mark Komrad, M.D., DFAPA, ACP, Faculty of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, Tulane, and LSU You may have heard that France’s National Assembly overrode their Senate’s objection to a proposed euthanasia law , and legalized it. A review by the French constitutional court has since upheld it, with a some of important clarifications, a couple of which are disturbing: Like Canada and Benelux countries, the law allows both US style assisted suicide (oral prescription) AND euthanasia (IV lethal injection by doctor). [In all
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Philip Nitschke, also known as Dr Death, who invented a suicide pod, stated in an interview, last year, that the suicide pod will be ready for use in Britain if assisted suicide is legalized. Sanchez Manning reported for the Times on June 20, 2025 that: Nitschke, who invented the pod, which uses gas to assist death, said: “As soon as we know that the final legislation is in place we’ll start enthusiastically pursuing the option of using the device in the UK. “We’ll be looking to find UK-registered doctors to assist and of cou
Read →Alex Schadenberg Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Disability leaders opposing assisted suicide On December 12, 2025 w e reported that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed assisted suicide bill SB 9 into law. The Illinois assisted suicide law is scheduled to go into effect on September 12, 2026. On August 13, 2026 we reported that a group of Illinois physicians, a Catholic bishop and a faith-based nursing home filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block Illinois’ assisted suicide law before it goes into effect. On August 24, 2026 Molly Sweeney reported for WCIA news that Illinoi
Read →By Odile Marcotte Retired Professor Department of Computer Science, UQAM and a Euthanasia Prevention Coalition board member. Previous article: France legalized euthanasia. What's next ( Link ). Odile Marcotte After the National Assembly of France adopted the law on “aid in dying,” ( Article Link ) five people or groups asked the Constitutional Council (the French equivalent of the Supreme Court of Canada) to state whether this law was constitutional. In its decision published on August 14, 2026, the Constitutional Council did not reject the law or any part of it but asked for three changes ( L
Read →Gordon Friesen and Alex Schadenberg call for a comprehensive review of Canada's euthanasia law. Their petition argues that patients should have meaningful access to care and protection from pressures associated with assisted death.
Read →Schadenberg organizes the coalition's 2025 reporting and advocacy into a month-by-month review. The roundup links Canadian assisted-dying controversies, disability-rights developments, and campaigns over assisted-suicide legislation in the United States and elsewhere.
Read →Schadenberg discusses an inquest involving Normand Meunier and concerns about inadequate hospital care preceding his assisted death. He argues that the case illustrates the need to address neglect rather than treat euthanasia as an answer to preventable suffering.
Read →The organizations announce an Ottawa press conference calling for a review of Canada's euthanasia system. The notice highlights their campaign for access to medical facilities that do not provide medical assistance in dying.
Read →Schadenberg reports that New York's Assembly passed an assisted-suicide bill and describes the remaining Senate stage. The post urges readers to contact legislators in opposition to the proposal.
Read →Schadenberg discusses a veteran's reported account of being offered medical assistance in dying during an earlier interaction with veterans' services. He uses the account to argue for stronger access to treatment and reform of how vulnerable veterans are supported.
Read →A Canadian election pledge not to expand euthanasia eligibility to mental illness alone. Schadenberg also presents disability advocates' calls for broader restrictions on eligibility beyond that campaign commitment.
Read →The defeat of a Montana bill intended to remove a consent-based defense associated with assisted suicide. Schadenberg discusses the vote and considers litigation as another route for opponents of the practice.
Read →Kelsi Sheren criticizes a reported contrast between difficulty obtaining surgery and the speed of receiving assisted-death paperwork. The account also clarifies that the patient requested the forms in frustration and did not say that his doctor pressured him to die.
Read →Schadenberg argues that classifying assisted suicide as treatment would alter the purpose and obligations of health services. He discusses the United Kingdom debate and contends that such a change conflicts with suicide prevention.
Read →In testimony republished by the coalition, psychiatrist Ronald Pies opposes Massachusetts assisted-suicide proposals on ethical and clinical grounds. He argues that clinicians should respond to fears about autonomy and dignity through counseling and care rather than assistance in dying.
Read →Schadenberg reviews the assisted-dying sections of the United Nations disability committee's concluding observations on Canada. He focuses on the committee's concerns about eligibility where death is not foreseeable and proposed further expansions.
Read →This action alert contrasts a Montana proposal to restrict an assisted-suicide defense with a Delaware proposal to authorize assisted suicide. Schadenberg asks readers to support the Montana measure and oppose the Delaware legislation.
Read →This republished Inclusion Canada statement welcomes a United Nations committee's recommendations on Canadian disability rights. It highlights the recommendation to repeal Track 2 assisted dying alongside calls for stronger income support, inclusion, and community services.
Read →Schadenberg summarizes the Netherlands' reported 2024 euthanasia totals and highlights an increase in cases involving psychiatric conditions. He raises concerns about the implications for younger patients and for countries considering similar laws.
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