Denver, CO — A coalition of national and Colorado-based disability and patient advocacy organizations, and an individual with anorexia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s End of Life Options Act, which establishes assisted suicide in the state. They allege that the law violates core constitutional protections and federal civil rights statutes, including the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The plaintiffs — Atlantis ADAPT, United Spinal, Not Dead Yet, Institute for Patients’ Rights, and Mary Gossman, an individual plaintiff and anorexia patient — are asking the U.S. District Court to declare the law unconstitutional and to block its enforcement permanently. The suit argues that Colorado’s assisted suicide statute singles out individuals with disabilities and other vulnerable individuals, placing them at risk of premature death rather than ensuring access to care, support, and suicide prevention services.
“Assisted suicide laws like Colorado’s create a separate and unequal system in which people with disabilities are offered death instead of support,” said Matt Vallière, president/executive director of the plaintiff organization Institute for Patients’ Rights. “This lawsuit is about affirming that every person’s life has value, regardless of age, ability, or diagnosis, and that no one should be treated as disposable under the law.”
The suit highlights alarming consequences of the law’s implementation, including its application to individuals with non-terminal conditions like anorexia, spinal cord injuries, and other disabilities that may bias health care providers. Plaintiffs contend that the state discriminates against people with disabilities by offering lethal drugs for the purpose of suicide rather than directing them toward suicide prevention and recovery.
“Colorado’s EOLOA purports to be only for “terminal” illness, but it is regularly applied to patients with treatable conditions such as anorexia — conditions where full recovery is often possible with proper intervention,” said Michael W. Bien, co-founding partner of Rosen, Bien, Galvan and Grunfeld LLP and legal counsel for the plaintiffs in the case. “Rather than offering suicide prevention and robust mental health care, the state is steering vulnerable patients who could otherwise live to death by suicide.”
Advocates argue that the law sets a dangerous precedent by allowing physicians to make life-or-death judgments in cases where outcomes are uncertain. For individuals with anorexia and similar diagnoses, treatment success cannot be predicted, and labeling these patients as “terminal,” hopeless, and beyond help denies them the opportunity for healing.
“Rather than continue the decades-long policy of viewing suicide as a tragedy deserving of society’s intervention and prevention efforts, legalizing assisted suicide instead bifurcates policy into the Haves and Have Nots and deems suicide rational, just because a person has a disability,” said Ian McIntosh, interim executive director of plaintiff organization Not Dead Yet, a national grassroots disability rights group opposing the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. “The Haves get suicide prevention. The Have Nots — people with disabilities — get suicide assistance.”
A system with inherent discrimination and lack of safeguards
- Colorado’s End of Life Options Act steers vulnerable people with disabilities, including people with treatable eating disorders, to their deaths instead of guiding them towards care and supportive services.
- Anorexia is not a terminal condition, and patients — even in severe cases — can recover with appropriate treatment. Additionally, in Colorado, the person making this determination does not even need to be a doctor — advanced practice registered nurses may do so. However, these same nurses are not permitted to certify patients as terminal within six months for the purposes of hospice enrollment under Medicare.
- Individuals with spinal cord injuries are at a greater risk of suicide compared to the general population, particularly during the initial adjustment period following their injury. These patients require support and counseling, especially during this vulnerable period. By empowering doctors and nurses to make life-or-death decisions, Colorado has created a system where socially devalued individuals are discouraged from care and encouraged and assisted to die by suicide.
- This is evident in the personal stories that will be presented in the case, including that of Ana, a young woman, who used a wheelchair and died by assisted suicide at the age of 23.
- Data from over 2,000 U.S. assisted suicide cases show that most people seek it due to fears associated with disability, such as loss of autonomy, dignity, and bodily control, as well as fears of being a burden on family, NOT due to unmanageable physical pain.
- The End of Life Options Act is part of a long history of American laws and practices that have harmed and discriminated against people with disabilities, based on the notion that their lives are less worthy of living and health care resources. In other words, it begs the question: are they are “Better Off Dead.”
- In states where assisted suicide is legal, including Colorado, insurers have denied coverage for life-saving and life-extending treatments while offering to pay for lethal drugs, raising serious concerns about financial pressure.
- Less than 5% of patients requesting assisted suicide in states where it is legal are referred for psychiatric evaluation, despite high rates of depression and anxiety among individuals with life-threatening disabilities and those who are newly disabled. In Colorado, not a single medical aid-in-dying provider consulted a mental health professional in 2023, and in 2024, only two psychological evaluations were conducted.
- Patients with disabilities are legally eligible for assisted suicide based solely on a supposedly “terminal” diagnosis, all of which are classified as disability under federal definitions and are protected under the ADA.
For more information, please find the filing here: https://endassistedsuicide.org/colorado-complaint/
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About the Plaintiffs
- Atlantis ADAPT is a Denver-based grassroots organization providing independent living services and advocacy for people with disabilities. ADAPT has lost members to assisted suicide, including Ana, a woman who used a wheelchair. She was offered a lethal prescription during an acute health crisis and died by suicide at age 23.
- United Spinal Association is a national nonprofit that empowers and advocates for people living with spinal cord injuries and disorders, as well as all wheelchair users, including veterans, to achieve greater independence and quality of life.
- Not Dead Yet is a national disability rights organization leading the organized disability community’s opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia, with a focus on equal protection and anti-discrimination in end-of-life care.
- Institute for Patients’ Rights is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and advocacy on end-of-life issues, ensuring informed consent, access to care, and the protection of patients’ rights, particularly in policies or medical practices devalue life.
- Mary Gossman is a Colorado resident with mental health disabilities, including anorexia. She was discharged from one of the state’s leading eating disorder treatment centers after being told there was nothing more they could do for her. Since then, she has built a new care team and is in a much better place, but she fears that under Colorado’s assisted suicide laws, a relapse — which is not uncommon in eating disorder recovery — could result in her being labeled “terminal” and pressured into assisted suicide by providers.
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Media Contacts:
General: Meg Tully
Legal counsel: Michael W. Bien
Or Carl Whitaker