US Euthanasia Bill All But Dead - For Now

Margaret Dore &
Dawn Eskew

This year, the US Congress considered the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693. The Act seeks to provide financial support for palliative care and hospice education centers, including direct patient care.

The Act was viewed as noncontroversial. Indeed, H.R. 1676 passed the House on a voice vote without opposition.

There is, however, a catch.

This is because US euthanasia advocates are currently promoting "medical aid in dying" (euthanasia) as "palliative care."[1] There is a similar situation in Canada, where "lobbies are trying to influence the government to include so-called Medical Aid in Dying ... in palliative care."[2]

The significance is this: If the Act is passed into law and the above advocacy efforts are successful, medical aid in dying (euthanasia) will become part of palliative care and therefore part of the Act. More to the point, the Act will legalize and also finance euthanasia in government funded centers throughout the US. The Act is a closet or "springing" euthanasia bill.

Margaret Dore and Dawn Eskew Take the Lead Against Flawed Hospice Act

The "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693, were proposed in 2017 and viewed as noncontroversial.  In July 2018, H.R. 1676 passed the House. The bill was then received in the Senate and transferred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was also considering S. 693.

A week later, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a portfolio highly critical of the Medicare hospice benefit. This alerted Dore to some of the bills' problems.

Problems with the proposed bills include:

• They do not require patients to be “terminally ill,” which is an eligibility requirement for hospice under Medicare. If the bills are enacted, this omission will create confusion in the law and/or undermine laws designed to prevent patient harm and fraud in the Medicare program.

• The bills describe hospice and palliative care as a benefit for patients and their families, who can have divergent interests. Patients may want to get well, while their families may want inheritances. This is a fundamental problem with the bills, that as written, they serve two masters. 

* In early October 2018, Dore, assisted by Dawn Eskew of New York Against Assisted Suicide, went to the US Capitol with a formal analysis of the bills' problems. The staff person at their first appointment told them that no other visitor had expressed opposition to the bills.

Margaret Dore and Dawn Eskew Take the Lead Against Flawed Hospice Act

Margaret Dore and
Dawn Eskew

The "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693, were proposed in 2017 and viewed as noncontroversial. 

In July 2018, H.R. 1676 passed the House. The bill was then received in the Senate and transferred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was also considering S. 693.

A week later, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a portfolio highly critical of the Medicare hospice benefit. This alerted Dore to some of the bills' problems.