By Kelly Israel, 12/11/25 (pictured here).
Not Dead Yet is proud to join Sean Curran and five other organizational plaintiffs (Delaware ADAPT, Freedom Center for Independent Living, United Spinal Association, National Council on Independent Living, Institute for Patients’ Rights) in a lawsuit against health agencies in Delaware and their use of the End of Life Options Act (EOLOA).
Not Dead Yet opposes assisted suicide laws as blatantly discriminatory and extremely dangerous. These laws treat disabled lives as not worth living and people with disabilities as better off dead. It’s time the citizens of Delaware fought back. Our lawsuit argues that implementation of Delaware’s assisted suicide law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Delaware health agencies do so by applying EOLOA and steering patients with certain kinds of disabilities (namely, terminal illnesses) away from suicide prevention services and towards assisted suicide.
For example, health agencies fail to apply stringent standards for suicide prevention in Delaware to patients with terminal illnesses and instead - by offering them EOLOA - direct these patients to end their own lives. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act are clear that this impermissibly treats individuals differently solely on the basis of disability.
As the lawsuit explains, Delaware’s assisted suicide system effectively creates a “two-track system” of care - one track for people with life-threatening disabilities and one track for people without these disabilities. This two-track system is further entrenched by a failure to pay for appropriate long-term care and palliative care services for all citizens of Delaware. People who have been newly diagnosed with a life-threatening or significant illness often struggle to make sense of their lives post-diagnosis, at least at first. They also struggle to pay for the supports and services that will help them live good lives. Insurance may in fact cover assisted suicide but not support services. In this context, patients do not have a true “free choice” between living on and assisted suicide.
We urge Delaware direct its resources to improve the lives of people with disabilities instead of ending them. Delaware could, instead of advancing early death, advance comprehensive palliative care coordination and improved access to payment programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Without these assurances and an end to assisted suicide, we have no choice but to fight back in court. We unite today to fight for disabled lives and disabled futures.
In Solidarity,
Kelly Israel, Interim Deputy Director, Not Dead Yet