“For patients with serious disabilities, this law will put us at risk of deadly discrimination,” says Daniese McMullin-Powell, a polio survivor who has used a wheelchair for most of her life. / Credit: Institute for Patients’ Rights
CNA Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 06:10 am (CNA).
Several disability and patient advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Delaware on Dec. 8 alleging that Delaware’s new physician-assisted suicide law discriminates against people with disabilities.
In May 2025, Delaware passed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to live. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026, allows patients to self-administer lethal medication.
The 74-page complaint alleges that the new law is unconstitutional under both Delaware and federal law and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, among other challenges.
Plaintiffs include the Institute for Patients’ Rights; The Freedom Center for Independent Living, Inc., in Middletown; the Delaware chapter of ADAPT; Not Dead Yet; United Spinal Association, the National Council on Independent Living; and disability advocate Sean Curran.
The lawsuit, which names Gov. Matthew Meyer and the Delaware Department of Health and Human Services as two of several defendants, said that “people with life-threatening disabilities” are at “imminent risk” because of Delaware’s new law.
“Throughout the country, a state-endorsed narrative is rapidly spreading that threatens people with disabilities: namely, that people with life-threatening disabilities should be directed to suicide help and not suicide prevention,” the lawsuit read.
“At its core, this is discrimination plain and simple,” the lawsuit continued. “With cuts in healthcare spending at the federal level, persons with life-threatening disabilities are now more vulnerable than ever.”
The lawsuit alleges that, under the new law, people with life-threatening disabilities who express suicidal thoughts will be treated differently than other people who express suicidal thoughts. The new law lacks requirements for mental health screening for depression or other mental illness, “all of which are necessary for informed consent and a truly autonomous choice,” according to the lawsuit.
Curran, a Delaware resident who has lived with a severe spinal cord injury for 36 years, called the law “repugnant.”
“The act tells people like me that they should qualify for suicide help, not suicide prevention,” said Curran, who is a quadriplegic, meaning he is paralyzed in all four limbs.
“The act devalues people like me,” Curran continued in a press release shared with CNA. “I have led a full life despite my disability.”
Daniese McMullin-Powell, who is representing Delaware ADAPT in the lawsuit, said that the medical system already neglects people with disabilities.
“We do not need exacerbate its brokenness by adding an element where some patients are steered toward suicide,” said McMullin-Powell, who is a polio survivor and has used a wheelchair for most of her life.
“For patients with serious disabilities, this law will put us at risk of deadly discrimination from doctors and insurance companies in Delaware to make subjective and speculative judgments based on their perception of our quality of life,” McMullin-Powell said, according to the press release.
The legal group Ted Kittila of Halloran Farkas + Kittila LLP, who are representing the plaintiffs, called the law “ill-considered” and said it will “cause real harm to people who need real help.”
“For too long, assisted suicide has been pitched as an act of mercy,” the group said in the press release. “For those in the disability community, it represents a real threat of continued discrimination.”
The office of Gov. Meyer did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
