All Petitions

To the FDA\'s Compounding Incidents Program,

The petitioners draw your attention to the following:

Whereas the compounded drug cocktails being used for assisted suicide have had high rates of overdose, failure of expected pharmacological action, and adverse experiences associated with their use for assisted suicide; and;

Whereas the experiments that continue to be done to develop the compounded drug cocktails used for assisted suicide violate the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ regulations for the protection of human subjects under 45 CFR part 46;

Therefore, we call on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the adverse drug experiences with the compounded drug cocktails used for assisted suicide.

Information:

Despite claims that assisted suicide is a painless death, complications with assisted suicide remain common, and in fact have increased over the last decade. The FDA’s Compounding Incidents Program aims to protect the public against poor quality compounded drugs, yet no research has been done on whether the assisted suicide cocktails currently in use meet current standards.

An article by Manuela Callari published by Medscape on March 13, 2025, asked the question, “Do We Know Enough About Assisted Dying Drugs?” (1) Claud Regnard, MD, a retired palliative medicine consultant in the UK told Medscape,

[…] “The amount of evidence supporting the use of these drugs is astoundingly small. The last study looking at efficacy and side effects was published 25 years ago, using data from 10 years earlier.
[…] “You wouldn’t allow this in any way with any other sort of drugs,” Regnard said. In a 2022 study, he found that drugs used for assisted dying have not undergone the usual level of scrutiny. (2)
The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of these drugs at high doses remain poorly understood. “We extrapolate from therapeutic doses, but we have no proper data on what happens at lethal doses,” Regnard said. “That’s not science—that’s guesswork.”

Based on the Oregon data we know that there are serious problems with the use of compounded drugs for assisted suicide. The 2023 Oregon Death with Dignity Act report indicated that the longest time for an assisted suicide death was 137 hours (five days plus 17 hours) and the assisted suicide complications rate was almost 10%. In Oregon, complications are only reported when a health care provider is present at the death. In 2023, there were ten known complications based on 102 reports from health care providers. (3)

Regarding the assisted suicide drug trials, JoNel Aleccia reported the following for The Seattle Times on March 5, 2017:

[…] [Dr. Carol] Parrot and [Dr. Robert] Wood are part of a seven-member group of doctors in the Northwest who came up with the three-drug protocol after Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. acquired the rights to secobarbital, known as Seconal, in 2015 and raised the price sharply.
“We wanted the new drug regime to be safe, reliable and effective—and cost $500 or less,” said Parrot.

Earlier in the article, Aleccia states,

[…] The first Seconal alternative turned out to be too harsh, burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain. The second drug mix, used 67 times, has led to deaths that stretched out hours in some patients—and up to 31 hours in one case. (4)

Lisa Krieger’s article, published in Medical Xpress on September 8, 2020, also reported on the lethal drug cocktail trials:

[…] A little-known secret, not publicized by advocates of aid-in-dying, was that while most deaths were speedy, others were very slow. Some patients lingered for six or nine hours; a few, more than three days. No one knew why, or what needed to change.
“The public thinks that you take a pill and you’re done,” said Dr. Gary Pasternak, chief medical officer of Mission Hospice in San Mateo. “But it’s more complicated than that.” (5)

Doctors who participate in assisted suicide developed lethal compounded drug cocktails with human trials. The developers were concerned with the lethal efficacy and cost of the drug cocktail as opposed to the negative consequences associated with its use. The assisted suicide drug cocktail trials appear to have violated the Nuremburg Code.

We, the petitioners, call on the FDA to perform an investigation into the use of compounded drug cocktails used for assisted suicide based on the high rates of adverse experiences and into the experiments done to develop the assisted suicide drug cocktails that appear to have violated 45 CFR part 46.

(1) Callari, M. (2025, March 13). Do We Know Enough About Assisted Dying Drugs? Medscape. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/do-we-know-enough-about-assisted-dying-drugs-2025a100064q?form=fpf
(2) Worthington, A., Finlay, I., and Regnard, C. (2022, March 10). Efficacy and safety of drugs used for ‘assisted dying’. British Medical Bulletin. 142:15-22. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldac009
(3) Oregon Death with Dignity Act 2023 Data Summary https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Documents/year26.pdf
(4) Aleccia, J. (2017, March 5). Northwest doctors rethink aid-in-dying drugs to avoid prolonged deaths. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/northwest-doctors-rethink-aid-in-dying-drugs-to-avoid-prolonged-deaths/
(5) Kreiger, L. (2020, September 8). Doctors seek life-ending drugs that smooth the way for the terminally ill. Medical Express. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-doctors-life-ending-drugs-smooth-terminally.html

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Dear Minister of Health Hon. Sylvia Jones, and LHSC Patient Relations,

Roger Foley has not eaten anything since May 6, 2025. Roger Foley needs to be fed.

Roger has been living at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) for more than nine years. He lives with spinocerebellar ataxia type 14, a degenerative neurological condition. This condition causes Roger to have severe photosensitivity to regular lighting, forcing him to keep his hospital room light off. Several years ago, the hospital provided him with special lighting but in early May (2025) this lighting was removed. Since Roger requires his room to have limited lighting the hospital staff decided that they could not safely feed him. In response, Roger agreed to have intravenous (IV) feeding while continuing to request installation of suitable lighting. IV feeding is not a long-term solution since it does not provide adequate nutrition and may eventually lead to his veins collapsing. He has already had problems with the IV line.

Roger purchased a pair of goggles to protect his eyes from the light and enable suitable lighting for him to be fed. After getting accustomed to the goggles, the hospital decided more light would be needed for him to be fed.

On June 8, 2025, Barbara Kay reported in the National Post that Roger, “…filed a complaint against the LHSC with Ontario’s human rights tribunal because his hospital replaced the special lighting in his room, which he needs because his disease causes extreme photosensitivity, with ordinary lighting.” (1)

On August 11, 2022, Maria Cheng reported the following for The Associated Press: “In one recording obtained by the AP, the hospital’s director of ethics told Foley that for him to remain in the hospital, it would cost ‘north of $1,500 a day.’ Foley replied that mentioning fees felt like coercion and asked what plan there was for his long-term care. ‘Roger, this is not my show,’ the ethicist responded. ‘My piece of this was to talk to you, (to see) if you had an interest in assisted dying.’” (2)

Roger wants to leave the hospital but the Ministry of Health has not approved him for self-directed funding for home care. Self-directed funding for home care is a program that exists in Ontario whereby a person hires their own caregivers rather than a business providing them. Self-directed care is the least expensive and most effective way to provide care.

Roger has not been fed since May 6.

We, the undersigned, request that Roger receive the necessary accommodation for room lighting to enable him to be fed while protecting him from his severe photosensitivity.

Contact person: Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (info@epcc.ca)

(1) https://nationalpost.com/opinion/barbara-kay-a-disabled-mans-fight-for-life-in-an-age-of-maid
(2) https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-toronto-7c631558a457188d2bd2b5cfd360a867

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Dear Members of Canada\'s Federal and Provincial Parliaments,

Whereas euthanasia should not be considered a form of medical treatment; and;
Whereas euthanasia is incompatible with and must be separate from palliative care; and;
Whereas the traditional definition of palliative care that, “intends neither to hasten nor postpone death.” (WHO) should be maintained; and;
Whereas healthcare sanctuary (a place of physical and psychological safety in the healthcare system) should be a human right in Canada;

Therefore we, the undersigned citizens of Canada and members of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) and Delta Hospice Society, call on the federal and provincial governments to provide a complete review of Canada’s euthanasia (medical assistance in dying, or “MAID”) regime.

We are concerned with the direction of Canada’s MAID law. We oppose killing people.

A more detailed letter to all Members of Canada’s Federal and Provincial Parliaments can be found at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F9lhSapBPPaxAX3pvxtdcsIseyyFnfGF/view?usp=sharing

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Dear Rep. Jeffries and Rep. Scalise,

I oppose The Patient Access to End-of-Life Care Act that would force Americans to pay for assisted suicide (medically approved killing by poison) with their tax dollars.

I oppose assisted suicide and I vehemently oppose paying for medically approved killing.

Thank you in advance for upholding my conscience rights by not approving the use of tax dollars for killing.

For more information, see the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s blog article from April 29, 2024, by Alex Schadenberg: “Assisted Suicide lobby wants your tax dollars to kill people”: https://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2024/04/assisted-suicide-lobby-wants-your-tax.html

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Dear the Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice,

In March 2021, Canada expanded the euthanasia law (Bill C-7) by removing the terminal illness requirement. Bill C-7 also added the option of euthanasia for mental illness alone. The government originally provided a two-year moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness to provide time to prepare, and in 2023, the government extended the moratorium until March 17, 2024.

In August 2022, we learned that a Canadian Armed Forces veteran seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury was shocked when a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employee unexpectedly and casually offered him medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”).

In June 2023, Kathrin Mentler was offered euthanasia at the Access and Assessment Centre at Vancouver General Hospital when she was seeking help for chronic suicidal ideation.

Legalizing euthanasia gives medical professionals the right in law to lethally inject their patients. Permitting euthanasia for mental illness alone directly contradicts the need for effective consent.

You stated on December 13 that the government is considering, “hitting the pause button” on euthanasia for mental illness.

I demand that the Canadian government reverse its decision to permit “MAiD” for mental illness alone.
I demand that Canadians with mental illness not be abandoned to death by euthanasia (“MAiD”).

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Dear BC Health Minister Hon. Adrian Dix

In the past few years, a horrific trend has emerged where health authorities in British Columbia are increasingly promoting medical aid in dying (MAiD) while refusing to provide life-saving medical care to those who need it the most.

For instance, Jennyfer Hatch, whose death by euthanasia was highlighted in a commercial by Canadian retailer Simons, claimed that she was approved for MAiD after trying and failing to receive proper treatment for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome from BC health authorities, and after they failed to provide her with appropriate palliative care.

Meanwhile, it has been recently revealed by the media that Fraser Health has included slideshows promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide to healthy people receiving their pension packages.

I hear more and more stories about people in BC despairing over their inability to receive life-saving medical aid from BC’s healthcare system. Meanwhile, British Columbia has seen a 24% rise in euthanasia deaths in 2022.

Recently Kim Angell, from Ladysmith BC, was denied access to extending cancer treatment because she is considered incurable.

As BC’s Health Minister, I demand that you put a stop to the promotion of MAiD as an alternative to life-saving medical treatment and that you ensure that all who are eligible for MAiD are given access to proper medical care to keep them alive, as well as appropriate palliative care.

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Dear the Hon. Adrian Dix

Dying With Dignity has launched a campaign to force religiously-based health care institutions in British Columbia to provide euthanasia (MAiD). The euthanasia lobby is basing their lobbying efforts on the case of a woman who wanted to die an assisted death and was transferred to a hospice based on her request for an assisted death.

Firstly, the law does not require every health care institution to kill their patients by euthanasia. Secondly, Catholic health care institutions have a long history of providing excellent care. Thirdly, this woman was not abandoned. She was provided excellent palliative care, but when she insisted on dying by an assisted death, the Catholic hospital transferred her. Catholic hospitals do not hide the fact that they do not provide euthanasia. We live in a pluralistic society. Catholic hospitals provide excellent care based on a long religious tradition.

Catholic medical institutions must not be forced to provide euthanasia (MAiD).

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