Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), imploring them to maintain its goal of “lengthening life” after it proposed to change its mission statement.
“On August 25, 2023, your agency released a proposed change to its mission statement that would, among other things, remove ‘lengthen life’ from NIH’s stated goals,” the senators wrote in the letter. “We write to express concern about the potential effects of this change and to request information as to why this change was made.”
The senators described that the change may be due to the rise of assisted suicide.
“Amid the rising openness of some countries, such as Canada and the Netherlands, as well as a handful of states toward physician-assisted suicide, we are concerned that eliminating the stated goal of lengthening life within the NIH’s mission statement without explanation or justification could have a negative impact on people’s existing attitudes towards the quality of life of people with disabilities.”
Noting that a survey found that “over 80 percent of U.S. physicians who responded said they believe people with a significant disability have a worse quality of life than nondisabled people,” Rubio and Duckworth warned that medical professionals may discriminate among patients in their recommendation of physician-assisted suicide.
The senators have requested information from the NIH in the following areas:
- “What motivated your decision to remove ‘lengthen life’ from the NIH mission statement?”
- “Were outside groups consulted in the decision-making process? If so, which organizations, and what were their recommendations?”
- “What, if any, effect will deleting the phrase ‘lengthen life’ have on the work of the NIH in its research and grant-making priorities? What guidance will be provided to program officers and other relevant personnel?”
Eleven U.S. states offer assisted suicide, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
