On February 19, the Buckley Institute hosted a debate on assisted suicide with Patient Rights Action Fund's Matt Vallière and Penn State's Megan Wright in WLH 119 (100 Wall St, New Haven, CT).
Recent months have seen a strong uptick in debate and discussion around public policy that allows some medical professionals to help patients kill themselves or to kill a patient at the patient's request, known by proponents as MAID (medical assistance in dying), and by opponents as assisted suicide and euthanasia, respectively. Canada recently expanded the practice and multiple U.S. states allow it in some form. This issue can be deeply personal and ethically complex: how are we to think through it as a matter of policy, healthcare, and individual practice?
Join the Buckley Institute for a Firing Line debate to hear perspectives on these complex decisions and ask questions about this urgent, emergent medical controversy.
This event is free and open to the public.
Matt Vallière is the Executive Director of the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), a national, secular, non-partisan leader defending the rights of patients, people with disabilities, our elders, and the poor from the threat of legalized assisted suicide. PRAF is a 501(c)(4) not for profit corporation. He has owned and managed various private businesses and worked both professionally and voluntarily for non-profit causes, most currently with PRAF since 2014. He proudly serves as a volunteer emergency medical services first responder. As an experienced caregiver to people with life-threatening disabilities, Mr. Vallière is a tireless advocate for the rights of patients and people with disabilities, both in the medical setting and the public square. He has been published in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, and Newsweek, among others.
Megan S. Wright is a Professor of Law, Medicine, Sociology, and Bioethics at the Pennsylvania State University. Professor Wright’s primary research identifies ways that law can be used to promote patient autonomy, especially for patients with cognitive impairments making serious medical decisions. She publishes extensively in law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and her research has been recognized for excellence by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics and the Society for Empirical Legal Studies. The National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality also support her research. Professor Wright earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Arizona, and a B.S. in Sociology from Brigham Young University, and she obtained postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medical College, Yale Law School, and the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona.
