US EditionDisability and Patient Advocacy Groups File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of Colorado's Assisted Suicide Law
- On June 30, 2025, a group of disability and patient advocacy organizations, along with plaintiff Mary Grossman, filed a federal complaint in Denver opposing Colorado’s law permitting assisted suicide.
- The lawsuit contends that the law, first enacted in 2016 and broadened in 2024, unfairly targets people with disabilities by allowing assisted suicide for individuals with chronic ailments such as eating disorders and paralysis, rather than limiting it to those with terminal illnesses.
- Plaintiffs claim the law allows lethal prescriptions without mandatory mental health evaluations, requires prescribers to lack specific illness expertise, and does not ensure access to alternatives like palliative care or suicide prevention.
- In 2024, 510 individuals were prescribed medical aid-in-dying, with cancer accounting for 58% of qualifying conditions; last year, 313 people collected the medication while 429 passed away, and plaintiff Mary Grossman expressed concern about being directed toward aid-in-dying because of her anorexia and depression.
- Plaintiffs seek to block enforcement under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Affordable Care Act, and the 14th Amendment, implying the law risks premature death for vulnerable groups rather than providing support.
26 Articles
26 Articles
The Fort Morgan Times
Disability rights groups sue Colorado, challenging medical aid-in-dying law
Four disability rights organizations and a Littleton woman are challenging Colorado’s medical aid-in-dying law, arguing it discriminates against people with disabilities by allowing them to die by suicide instead of preventing it. The complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, argues that the law’s requirement that someone have a terminal illness to access lethal medication means that only people with disabilities will receive a prescriptio…
Aspen Daily News
Disability and Patient Advocacy Groups File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of Colorado's Assisted Suicide Law
Plaintiffs raise concerns about assisted suicide for patients with non-terminal conditions including eating disorders and spinal cord injuries
"My heart cannot bear to see so much courage and so much despair. I feel the duty to continue the fight for the dignity of the human being until the last moment, to break the cruel insensitivity of institutions that condemn to suffering. The arrival in Parliament of a law on the end of life should have been the result of the appeals of the Constitutional Court and also of our legislative initiatives, but the details that are emerging on the draf…
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