Executive Director, Institute for Patients' Rights
ORGANIZATIONAL PLAINTIFF
Matt Vallière
Matt Vallière is the Executive Director of the Institute for Patients’ Rights, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that conducts research, educates the public, and works to expand and implement tools of empowerment for older adults, people with disabilities, historically underrepresented groups, and their families to combat policies and medical practices that devalue some people’s lives, putting them at greater risk of deadly harm. He is a respected leader in the fight for dignity and compassion among many allies across the political and worldview spectra. He has spent years building bridges and developing relationships that have helped to forge a movement. Matt engages in public discourse as a thought leader in opposition to dangerous and discriminatory public policies. He has been published in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, and Newsweek, among others.
Statement
As a strong advocate for people with disabilities, the Institute for Patients’ Rights is honored to join the plaintiff group challenging California’s assisted suicide law, which we have long decried as inherently discriminatory. Older adults, people with disabilities, and historically underrepresented groups already have too many challenges living their daily lives including getting equal access to quality health care. California and the other states where assisted suicide is legal have made suicide the only medical “treatment” to which everyone has equal access. In our broken system rife with disparities and barriers to access, facilitating the suicides of people with life-threatening disabilities while denying and delaying coverage for real care isn’t autonomy, it’s eugenics.
Matt Vallière
How do you pronounce your name?
Matt (Matt like a door mat) Vallière (Val like valley, i like year, and ère like fair, the way a British person would say it with a soft r).