Gregory J. Pepe Presents on Right-to-Die Issues

November 17, 2015

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (November 17, 2015) – Gregory J. Pepe, founding principal of Neubert, Pepe & Monteith, P.C., will present at a symposium hosted by Quinnipiac University on Aid in Dying. The symposium, to be held at Quinnipiac Saturday November 21, 2015, will cover the legal, medical and ethical issues surrounding right-to-die legislation and end-of-life care.

Attorney Gregory Pepe and Attorney Janeanne Lubin-Szasfranski, General Counsel of St. Francis Hospital will present a joint session titled, “Right-to-Die and End-of-Life Planning: A Catholic Health System’s Perspective.” Attorneys Pepe and Lubin-Szasfranski join a distinguished roster of law professors, medical doctors, government officials, and related agency representatives for informative presentations and discussions about right-to-die issues.

Attorney Pepe notes that Connecticut is now one of a growing number of states considering, what Connecticut calls, “Compassionate Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Adults.” In 1994, Oregon became the first state in the nation to enact so-called right-to-die legislation, passing the Oregon Death With Dignity Act (“ODWDA”). It would take twelve years of court battles before the Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. Oregon (2006) that the federal government, through the offices of the U.S. Attorney general, could not deny, suspend or revoke a doctor’s drug prescribing registration for prescribing life ending drugs to a patient pursuant to ODWDA. Five other states have enacted laws similar to Oregon’s: Washington and Montana in 2009; Vermont in 2013; New Mexico in 2014; and California in 2015.

“As more and more states take up this discussion, it is important to understand how the law has evolved to support these rights, and how the national debate over their adoption continues to evolve as well,” states Attorney Pepe. “Few decisions are more personal or divisive than the taking of one’s own life with physician prescribed drugs.”

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