DOVER, Del.- End-of-life advocates are asking a federal appeals court to allow them to take part in an ongoing lawsuit challenging Delaware’s medical aid-in-dying law.
On Jan. 29, Compassion Legal: The End-of-Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices filed a motion to intervene in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The motion was filed on behalf of two Delaware residents and the Compassion & Choices Action Network.
The request comes after a group of plaintiffs led by the Institute for Patients’ Rights appealed a previous ruling that allowed Delaware’s medical aid-in-dying law to take effect on Jan. 1.
The law, formally known as the Ron Silvero/Heather Block End-of-Life Options Act, allows eligible terminally ill patients to request medication to end their lives. A federal judge in Delaware denied an earlier request to temporarily block the law and dismissed the lawsuit entirely on Dec. 30.
In that ruling, U.S. District Judge Gregory B. Williams said the law is voluntary and includes safeguards limiting eligibility to terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live.
Compassion Legal previously sought to intervene in the district court case, but that request was denied after the lawsuit was dismissed. The new motion asks the appeals court to allow the advocates to participate in the appeal, arguing their involvement would help the court understand how a ruling could affect patients and advocacy groups.
The two individuals named in the motion are Susan Boyce, who has a rare genetic form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Vickie George, who has primary-progressive multiple sclerosis and quadriplegia. Both are Delaware residents.
The appeal is the third legal challenge filed by the Institute for Patients’ Rights against medical aid-in-dying laws since 2023. Similar lawsuits were filed in California and Colorado. Courts did not block access to the laws in those states, and the California case was also dismissed at the district court level.
The Third Circuit has not yet ruled on the motion to intervene or the appeal itself.