At the American Medical Association’s (AMA) annual meeting, the House of Delegates (HOD) rejected another attempt to revise their policy to affirm physician assisted suicide (PAS).

The Patients Rights Action Fund reported that: “Dating back to 1994, the AMA Code of Medical Ethics states “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”

The HOD affirmed once again that the practice of medicine, and the role of a physician, should not be to assist in killing a human being.

There were also attempts to change terminology regarding assisted suicide to “medical aid in dying”,  which the Board of Trustees rejected. They explained: “Descriptors such as Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), physician aid-in-dying, and death with dignity could apply to palliative care practices and compassionate care near the end of life that do not include intending the death of patients… this degree of ambiguity is unacceptable for providing ethical guidance.”

There have been multiple attempts to change the AMA’s position on PAS in the last five years. The popularity of PAS spiked following the 2014 case of a young woman named Brittany Maynard, who moved from her California home to Oregon to access the pill regimen to end her life. Her case proceeded legalization of PAS in California.

Currently, 11 states and Washington D.C., permit physician assisted suicide.