Notice to Physicians from the
USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities on PAS
Dear Physicians,
At its annual meeting this June 8-12 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, the AMA’s House of Delegates will once again be voting on assisted suicide, specifically to affirm the slightly revised Council on Ethics and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) report that retains the AMA’s longstanding opposition to assisted suicide. And it’s possible that other similar matters related to assisted suicide may come before the House and Reference Committee. Your assistance is critically needed.
Members of the AMA,
1. If you are a Delegate, please attend the June 8-12 meeting to speak and vote in favor of the CEJA Report which reaffirms the AMA Code of Medical Ethics provisions in opposition to physician-assisted suicide. If you are not a Delegate, but live near Chicago, please join other physicians who plan to testify in favor of the CEJA report at the Reference Committee meeting on Sunday, June 9th from 1:30pm to 5:00pm in Regency Ballroom C. Please notify Greg Schleppenbach at gschleppenbach@usccb.org if you plan to testify.
2. Non-Delegates should also contact House of Delegate members in your state and ask them to attend and vote in favor of the CEJA report.
3. Please comment at the online forum on the AMA website to express your support of the CEJA report. The online forum is now active. To comment on the forum click on this link or paste into your browser: https://www.ama-assn.org/amaone/hod-annual-overview. Then scroll down to “Online Forums” and click that, which takes you to the Online Forum list. In the second box entitled “Committee on Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws” click on “CEJA Reports”. Then click on the first topic: “Physician-Assisted Suicide”. At this point you’ll be prompted to sign in or create an account if you don’t have one already. As you probably know, this testimony is carefully reviewed and compiled by AMA staff and has equal weight to onsite live testimony.
Non-Members of the AMA,
1. Join the AMA so that you can participate in the above activities. It is very easy to join at https://member.ama-assn.org/join-renew/.
2. Contact House of Delegate members in your state and ask them to attend and vote in favor of the CEJA report.
3. The AMA allows the groups and organizations to be entitled to a seat(s) in the AMA House of Delegates. If you are a member of a specialty organization, please consider asking for a seat in the House of Delegates for the June meeting.
4. Urge delegates and alternates to speak in favor of the CEJA report/recommendation when they are discussed at state and regional caucus meetings prior to the June House of Delegates meeting. Thank you for your assistance.
