CMA Celebrates AMA’s Decision to Oppose PAS
June 9, 2025
CMA members played a key role in the American Medical Association’s (AMA) decision to continue to oppose physician assisted suicide (PAS) during its annual meeting in Chicago despite efforts to pressure the association to drop its longstanding opposition.
“The role of CMA members and others who value ethical medicine in America is clearly evident in this victory,” said CMA President Dr. Michelle Stanford. “Similar advocacy efforts will continue with this, and other ethical issues related to health care in America. Our patients and those who care for them deserve no less.”
CMA members, who are also AMA members, took an active role in the proceedings that determined the AMA’s decision. On Saturday, June 7, 2025, the AMA Ethics and Bylaws Reference Committee heard testimony from members related to a report about PAS by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA). Important recommendations found in that report included AMA’s continued opposition to assisted suicide and the avoidance of using terminology such as “medical aid in dying”.
Both of those recommendations were supported with in-person testimony from many CMA members, including both physicians and medical students. In addition, an even greater number of CMA/AMA members submitted online comments in support of the report. The number of online comments in support greatly outnumbered those opposed.
On Monday, June 9, the report was presented to the AMA House of Delegates, where it was approved despite a failed attempt to pass an amendment from the AMA Medical Students and Residents Sections that would have removed those two key report recommendations. Thanks to the effective advocacy of CMA members and like-minded colleagues, that amendment was soundly defeated by a wide margin.
“This successful effort is yet another indication that even greater involvement by CMA members and others who share similar principles is very important,” said Dr. Tim Millea, the Chairman of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee. “That is particularly true for medical students and residents who are the future of American medicine.”