Bill > HCR0019

This Concurrent Resolution, passed by the Indiana General Assembly, strongly opposes and condemns assisted medical suicide, which refers to a physician providing a terminally ill patient with the means to end their own life. The resolution argues that Indiana has a fundamental interest in preserving human life and that no right to assisted suicide exists under the state or federal constitutions. It highlights concerns that assisted suicide can be a response to treatable conditions like depression, that palliative care is often effective in managing pain and allowing a natural death, and that legalizing assisted suicide can lead to abuses, devalue human life, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly, disabled, and depressed, and undermine the medical profession's role as healers. The resolution also points to potential financial incentives and the difficulty of policing such private end-of-life decisions as reasons for its opposition, ultimately asserting that a prohibition is the only way to protect citizens from coerced suicide and euthanasia.