The day before the vote, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan sent a letter to members of the committee urging them to "nullify the D.C. City Council's deceptively named 'Death with Dignity Act' that legalizes the dangerous and unethical practice of doctor-assisted suicide."
The Brothers of Charity Group stated that it would allow doctors to perform euthanasia in any of its 15 centers, which provide care to more than 5,000 patients a year, subject to carefully stipulated criteria.
Ontario bishops spoke particularly about concerns that proposed Ontario laws and policies surrounding euthanasia currently offer no real guarantees of the freedom of doctors and nurses to conscientiously object to actively helping a person die.