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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The assisted dying movement is gaining momentum. These opponents are pushing back
What does it mean to die well, with dignity? The question is at the heart of the contentious debate over whether legalizing physician-assisted death for terminally ill patients is an act of compassion, upholding an individual's dignity, or a troubling step toward devaluing human life. The debate has recently returned to the spotlight in New York, where the state Assembly passed a bill in April that would allow terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request life-ending medication. It also came up in May, when 'Dilbert' cartoonist Scott Adams revealed that he only has a few months to live and indicated that he might take advantage of California's End of Life Option Act. New York's proposal requires confirmation from two doctors, who must verify the diagnosis and ensure the patient is mentally sound. The measure passed narrowly — 81 to 67 — after more than four hours of debate. Its fate now rests with the state Senate, where it needs 32 votes to pass and currently has 26 co-sponsors. Currently, 12 jurisdictions — including Oregon, Colorado and the District of Columbia — permit what's commonly known as 'medical assistance in dying' (MAiD) or 'assisted suicide.' On May 20, Delaware became the latest state to legalize medical assistance in dying, and at least 19 other states are considering similar laws. Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands have adopted MAiD laws, some extending eligibility to people without terminal illnesses. The United Kingdom is also reviewing a similar bill, with a vote expected later in June. 'Passing this bill is about love, compassion, and reducing needless suffering. No one should have to endure agony when there is a better, humane choice available. This is not a political issue — it's a human issue, and we owe it to New Yorkers to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act,' said the bill's sponsor, Assemblymember Amy Paulin, D-Westchester, in a press release. Supporters argue that allowing patients to choose death in the face of unbearable suffering respects their dignity and autonomy. For those speaking out against the bill, legalizing physician-assisted suicide devalues life and puts vulnerable populations at risk, including people with disabilities, poor people and people with mental illness. Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a physician and ethicist at Columbia University, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that the debate isn't about dying well. 'It is about relieving society — government, medical systems, even families — of the responsibility to care for those who need the most help: the mentally ill, the poor, the physically disabled,' she wrote. Opponents worry about a 'slippery slope,' arguing that vague eligibility requirements could lead to the kind of expansion seen in Canada, where assisted suicide has become available to people suffering not only from terminal illness, but also from conditions like loneliness, eating disorders and mental illness. 'I cannot get through a day ... It's physical torture,' said a Canadian woman with a series of nonterminal diagnoses, whose journey seeking, and receiving, MAiD is the focus of a recent New York Times story. 'Once we go down this road, there is no going back,' said Ed Mechmann, the director of public policy at the Archdiocese of New York, speaking at a recent event in New York hosted by Communion and Liberation, a Catholic lay movement, along with other opponents of physician-assisted suicide. 'It will change the nature of health care, of living and dying forever,' Mechmann said. The terms 'physician-assisted death' or 'assisted suicide' typically refer to a medical practice in which a terminally ill person is provided a lethal dose of medication they can take to end their life. The term 'medical assistance in dying' is commonly used in U.S. and Canada policy discussions and often refers to both assisted suicide and euthanasia. Euthanasia, by contrast, involves a medical professional administering a life-ending medication, typically by injection, at the patient's request. Euthanasia is not legal in the states that have legalized MAiD, whereas countries like Canada and the Netherlands allow both. Although the proponents of MAiD often frame assisted suicide as a matter of personal autonomy, those who oppose it believe that in reality, it would accomplish the opposite and endanger vulnerable patients who struggle to access care and support. 'As a practicing physician, I will tell you this does not become a matter of choice for most people,' said Dugdale, author of the 2020 book 'The Lost Art of Dying,' speaking at the New York event. 'The concern is that once you have a choice legalized for the privileged few, it will then threaten life for many others who find it difficult to maintain life for a variety of reasons.' Weak safeguards of the laws and ambiguous definitions would likely contribute to eventually including a wide range of chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer and even mental health disorders like anorexia, Mechmann noted. In such cases, choosing death may not reflect true autonomy but rather systemic neglect, he said. In Colorado, for instance, patients with anorexia have already qualified for assisted death on the grounds that the condition can be fatal if untreated. In 2024, Quebec, a province in Canada, established the right for a person with a serious and incurable illness to choose a medically assisted death in advance. Also in Canada, patients with a mental illness as an underlying medical condition will be eligible for MAiD in 2027. But even with long-term patients, it can be difficult to determine whether a desire to die stems from informed decision-making or untreated depression, Dugdale said. 'The people who tend to seek to end their lives through lethal prescription, who want assisted suicide, are at high risk for depression demographically,' Dugdale said. Among those groups are older adults with advanced cancer, especially white men. Depression is often overlooked or misdiagnosed, despite being treatable. In Oregon, where MAiD has been legal the longest, less than 1% of patients requesting lethal prescriptions are referred for psychological evaluation. 'This is a major oversight that fails to protect depressed people from making flawed decisions,' Dugdale wrote in her op-ed. Opponents also challenge the popular narrative of MAiD as a carefully considered choice made by an informed patient with a long-trusted physician. 'Very few patients have a doctor they call their own anymore, or a doctor who knows them,' said Dr. Eve Slater, a physician and Columbia University professor at an online event hosted by Plough, a Christian magazine, on June 2. Slater, who previously served as assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, said that for many today, especially in New York, care is fragmented, which makes it more challenging to make intimate and ethically sound decisions. She added that legalizing physician-assisted death could further erode the foundational trust between doctor and patient. Physicians also often misjudge how long terminally ill patients will live, according to Slater. 'I've been thankfully proved wrong on many occasions,' Slater said. ' I think there is a fallacy in the premise that you qualify if you have less than six months to live, because any doctor who declares that is assuming a crystal ball that they don't have.' In reality, legalizing assisted death risks creating a new social norm — one that pressures vulnerable individuals, especially those who are alone, seriously ill or unsupported, into feeling like death is their best or only option. In 2019, Kate Connolly, a communications professional in New York City, received a call that her mother had been rushed to the hospital with a brain aneurysm, she recalled while speaking alongside Dugdale and Mechmann. For the next four and a half years, her mother remained confined to her bed and wheelchair, on a feeding tube, unable to do much without assistance. Yet, even in a severely disabled state, her mother's presence was cherished by her family before she died, Connolly said. 'Her family's role, which was also a great sacrifice, was to be steward, not dictators, but respectful stewards of a precious gift,' Connolly said. Around the same time, Connolly learned her unborn son had developed a cystic hygroma — a condition often considered incompatible with life. Both with her mother and her son, Connolly described pressure from medical professionals to end their life prematurely — through abortion or withdrawal of care, which were presented as practical and compassionate choices. She chose to continue her pregnancy, giving birth to a son and holding him after he died. Although hastening death may sometimes seem like a more compassionate and pragmatic decision, this mindset fosters a view of suffering lives as disposable, Connolly said. 'The truth is, from what I've seen, dying is not a problem to be solved,' she said. 'It is an experience to be lived and even embraced. It is a sacred time, truly set apart from any experience.' End-of-life decisions must involve thoughtful, peaceful conversations between patients, families and doctors, Connolly noted. 'What is the right course of action? What is reasonable or what is needlessly extending pain and suffering?' she said. 'You cannot ask these questions thoughtfully or with any real meaning when you're being pushed to just do the expedient thing and end the life in front of you.' According to studies from Canada, the top reasons that patients say they seek a lethal prescription are more social rather than physical. In Canada, the 2022 annual report revealed that the most commonly cited reasons for requesting MAiD were loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86%) and loss of ability to perform daily activities (81%). While supporters of MAiD often argue that alleviating pain is one of the main reasons for hastening the death of a patient, about 59% are concerned about 'controlling pain.' According to Oregon data, nearly 30% of MAiD-seeking patients cite current and future concerns about pain. 'So it's much more an issue of control,' Dugdale said, adding that the U.S. has robust pain control. 'Dying in pain is not an issue. It should not be an issue.' Instead, loss of independence and fear of being a burden often are. These fears should be met with care, not a prescription, Mechmann said. 'It's incumbent on us to make sure people don't feel (like a burden).' With her medical trainees, Dugdale observed a shift in attitudes toward physician-assisted dying. In recent conversations, she said, some trainees wondered, 'Why don't we just do away with our societal aversion to suicide altogether?' and embrace the view that if individuals wish to end their lives, they should be free to do so without interference. Once, she was asked whether assisted suicide can be a solution to the problem of loneliness. With this mindset, end-of-life decisions would be made through a utilitarian and individualistic lens. Many physicians are uneasy about appearing 'paternalist,' Dugdale said. 'And so to mitigate that, we defer everything to the patient,' she said. The core ethical principles of beneficence (doing good) and non-maleficence (avoiding harm) have, in practice, been overshadowed by an almost singular focus on autonomy, Dugdale said. For doctors, she continued, MAiD can offer a controlled intervention in the often unpredictable process of dying, providing a sense of agency amid uncertainty. 'There's already a growing pressure to sacrifice one's life for the so-called 'greater good' and to rid the world of expensive, hopeless cases,' she said. Normalizing the idea of choosing death, especially in a society already grappling with high health care costs and an aging population, may cause younger health care professionals to view seriously ill, expensive patients as burdens. A study from Oxford University points to a correlation between legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia and increased rates of more common forms of suicide in both the U.S. and Europe. 'Once it becomes widely acceptable that I can end my life on my own terms, that feeds a culture of death,' Dugdale said. In Canada, euthanasia is now the fifth most common cause of death. 'At some point, the vast majority of people in the state of New York are gonna be laying in a hospital bed. And when the doctor shows up, what are we gonna think? Is this my ally or is this my enemy?' Mechmann said. So what, then, is the way forward? Investing in meaningful relationships and community and maintaining deep personal connections through family, faith communities, clubs or friendships is a bulwark against loneliness and despair, experts agreed. It's human connection — not lethal prescriptions — that is the real antidote to suffering, participants in the event said. 'Suffering is inevitable,' Mechmann said. But the assisted suicide is a 'bad answer' to the problem of suffering. 'It's love, it's community, it's not despairing. It's being willing to embrace some of the suffering and to live with it and to walk with it.' Editor's note: This story deals with the practice of assisted suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Line is always available. You can text or call 988 any time or chat at In Utah, you can also reach out to SafeUT, 833-372-3388, or download the SafeUT app.
Newsweek
01-05-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Map Shows States Where Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Legal as NY Bill Advances
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The New York State Assembly has approved legislation that would allow physician-assisted suicide, a first in either chamber of the state legislature. The Medical Aid in Dying Act passed by a vote of 81-67 and would enable mentally competent, terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to request a prescription for life-ending medication, subject to multiple safeguards. Why It Matters Should the bill become law, New York would become the 11th jurisdiction in the United States to permit physician-assisted suicide through legislation. At the moment, the practice is legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. In Montana, it is permitted through a court ruling, not statutory law. Proponents of the law argue it offers terminally ill patients a choice to avoid prolonged suffering. New York State Assembly Member Amy Paulin, who has sponsored the bill since 2016, has spoken of her sister's painful death from ovarian cancer. "She shouted out every five minutes, 'When am I going to die already? The pain is so severe,'" Paulin recalled. What To Know The legislation requires approval from both an attending and consulting physician and allows for a mental health evaluation if there's any concern over the patient's decision-making capacity. Senate Bill S138 contains parallel provisions and is currently in the Senate Health Committee. The legislation lays out specific conditions and procedural requirements. A patient must make a written request, confirmed by at least two physicians. It explicitly prohibits coercion and mandates that patients administer the drugs themselves. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has not yet committed to a floor vote, although she acknowledged the issue is under discussion. "The conversation had begun in earnest last year," she told City & State New York media outlet. The legislation has its opponents as well. New York Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican, issued a scathing statement condemning the Medical Aid in Dying Act and its supporters. "The New York State Assembly's decision to pass this disgusting assisted suicide bill is a shameful attack on the sanctity of life and a betrayal of our most vulnerable citizens," Stefanik said. "This radical legislation, driven by Governor [Kathy] Hochul's Far Left allies, normalizes the termination of human life under the guise of 'compassion,' putting the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill at risk of coercion and despair. As a proud pro-life advocate, I am appalled that Albany Democrats would prioritize this culture of death over protecting the dignity and worth of every New Yorker." Dr. Yves de Locht, left, and Wim Distelmans, professor in palliative care, second from left, arrive in the hospital room for the euthanasia of Lydie Imhoff, center, as caregiver Marie-Josee Rousseaux, right, holds her hand... Dr. Yves de Locht, left, and Wim Distelmans, professor in palliative care, second from left, arrive in the hospital room for the euthanasia of Lydie Imhoff, center, as caregiver Marie-Josee Rousseaux, right, holds her hand in a Belgian hospital on February 1, 2024. More SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images What People Are Saying Stefanik said in a statement: "This bill undermines the fundamental principle that all life is sacred, a value I have fought for in Congress. Instead of investing in palliative care, mental health support, and life-affirming resources for those facing terminal illness, this legislation offers an immoral shortcut that devalues human life. It sends a chilling message to our seniors and disabled communities that their lives are expendable." "New Yorkers deserve better than Far Left policies that erode our moral foundation and push families toward heartbreak. I call on the State Senate to reject this dangerous bill and stand up for the voiceless. As the representative of New York's 21st District, I will continue to champion life at every stage and fight against the extremist agenda of Hochul and her Albany Democrats. We must restore New York's commitment to the protection of all its citizens." New York state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the bill's Senate sponsor, told City & State New York: "I know we have the votes. It's a matter of continuing to raise the issue with leadership." What Happens Next The bill awaits further action in the Senate. If passed, it would advance to Hochul, who has not yet publicly taken a position on the measure. If fully enacted, New York would become the 10th U.S. state to allow doctor-assisted suicide, alongside its neighbor New Jersey.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Assembly passes bill to allow medically assisted death for terminally ill New Yorkers
Apr. 29—ALBANY — The New York state legislature is poised to pass a bill that would allow terminally ill people to seek a medication to end their lives, a process called medical aid in dying. On Tuesday, the Assembly voted for the first time to advance a bill, carried by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Westchester, that would allow a terminally ill patient to ask for a prescription for a lethal medication, to be taken at home on their own terms. Under the terms of the bill, any adult age 18 or older with "decision-making capacity," who has been diagnosed by a physician with a terminal illness with no more than six months to live, confirmed with another physician, can submit an oral and written request to be prescribed lethal medication. The request must be witnessed by two adults who can attest to the patient's mental acuity and voluntary request to end their life. The witnesses cannot be family or a spouse, and are not in a position to benefit from the estate of the patient once they die. Neither witness can be an owner, operator or employee of the medical facility where the patient is being treated, and they cannot be the physician prescribing the medication. The law is written to exclude age or disability as qualifiers for medically assisted death, and only the patient seeking the prescription can submit the request. The law also requires that the patient be the one to administer the lethal medication. No other person can help with that process. Doctors would be instructed to tell the patient to have another person present when they take the drugs and that they cannot do so in a public place. The bill would also require doctors to run through all available options with a patient before signing a prescription for the lethal medication, including discussing hospice and palliative care. It also provides precise language for the written request to be provided to requesting patients and their witnesses. The bill does not specify the lethal medication to be provided. The bill is written to ensure that no doctors, nurses, psychiatrists or pharmacists lose their licenses for participating in the medically assisted death process. It also specifies that the patient's death certificate will indicate their cause of death to be their terminal illness, not medical assistance. Assemblywoman Jen Lunsford, D-East Rochester, explained in a press conference on Tuesday that this will allow the families of those who die with medical assistance to still benefit from their life insurance policies. "This gives families an opportunity to die on their own terms, when they want to and how they want to, without impacting their life insurance," Lunsford said. "It will leave their family with benefits that if they made this choice outside of the law, they would not receive, and that is an incredible gift we are giving to New Yorkers." The bill's backers say they're motivated by love and respect for ill and dying New Yorkers. "Medical aid in dying is an effort that is rooted in love," Assemblymember Amanda Septimo, D-Bronx, said. "Today we will vote on that to say that we love New Yorkers, and we are here to stand up for every single one." For more than a decade, lawmakers in the state Capitol have sought to add New York to the growing list of states and countries that offer some sort of medically assisted death, sometimes called doctor assisted suicide, to sick people with no prospects of getting better. Efforts have been stymied for years. A combination of practical and moral objections have been cited by lawmakers, legislative leaders and governors. The state Association on Independent Living is opposed to the legislation, which they argue puts the physically and mentally disabled at risk. They argue that a majority of physicians already believe that the disabled live with a lower quality of life, and posit that any safeguards put in place in New York will be quickly erased. "We have already seen in other places that people with disabilities are offered assisted suicide in place of home care, caregiver respite, or home accessibility modifications," said Alex Thompson, director of advocacy at NYAIL. "New York should be prioritizing medical aid in living, not promoting suicide as a substitute." Assemblyman Scott A. Gray, R-Watertown, had many reasons to oppose the bill, and voted no on it Tuesday. Gray said he has both personal and fundamental reasons for opposing the legislation, and cited his own personal experience with people nearing the supposed end of their lives. "My mother had small cell cancer. The doctor told her she could live six months to two years, and she died in six weeks," he said. But his mother-in-law, who lives with Gray in Watertown, has been twice told she was at the end of her life and given information on hospice care — and has lived for years since those diagnoses with a perfectly stable quality of life. "Twice we have been through an inaccurate diagnosis, and had we just succumbed to the belief, she would have been sent to hospice and they'd be giving her morphine," he said. Gray said that doctors' predictions for when a terminal illness will claim a person's life are an inexact science, and that prescribing lethal medication for people who could live for years yet isn't something he can support. He also has concerns over misdiagnoses and medical professionals missing key parts of a patient's condition. Gray also cites a number of specific and material concerns with the language of the legislation. The bill has no guidelines for when a lethal prescription should be used, and while it does call for a patient to take the drugs with another person present, the forms outlined in the bill would also permit the patient to move forward with medically assisted death without any one else in their life knowing, even people in the same home as them. The bill's backers have cited statistics showing that up to 40% of people who get lethal prescriptions in similar programs in other states and countries don't actually take the drugs. Gray said he has concerns about introducing these lethal medications to the general population without some checks and balances on where they are and how they're used or disposed of. If someone is prescribed the lethal medication, doesn't inform their family, and dies without using it, that medication goes unchecked. "There is no method for follow up to find out if the medication has been used, what the status is, and I think that is fatal," Gray said. "Everyone talks about safe drug disposal, but what happens when nobody knows it exists?" Gray also cites concerns over the move to attribute a medically assisted death to the terminal disease the individual was diagnosed with rather than the lethal drugs. "Ultimately you're asking the doctor to sign off on something as the cause of death that was not," he said. "That's a huge issue." If the person takes the lethal drugs without informing any family, an autopsy would show they died from taking the medication rather than their disease, further complicating matters in Gray's opinion. But the bill's supporters say they're convinced this is the right approach, achieved over years of writing and rewriting the bill in an effort to get it passed. Assemblyman Alfred E. Taylor, D-Bronx, who is also a Christian pastor, said that he hasn't always supported this bill or similar ones, but has come around after years of reflecting on the issue. He said part of the reason he supports the bill now is because it's been thoughtfully crafted. "I want to clarify, this is not assisted suicide," he said. "This is like nothing in the nation that has ever happened, because after 30 years, we've done it right. Nobody is doing anything but the individual that feels he or she wants to take advantage of it." After passing in the Assembly, the bill now will move through the Senate. Paulin and her colleagues supporting the Senate version of the bill said they have confidence that the bill will pass in that chamber. Speaking with reporters later Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Andrea A. Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said that her chamber has been discussing the bill to bring it up for a vote, but wouldn't commit to doing so this session. "It has to be a conversation," she said, noting that she won't call a bill to the floor unless she's sure it will pass the chamber. It also requires the governor's signature for final approval. Paulin said her understanding is that Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul is likely to sign the bill. "She's supportive, but I haven't gotten a personal call," she said.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New York Assembly passes bill to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill
The New York State Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill that would legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill people, sending the measure to the state Senate. The Medical Aid in Dying Act passed the Assembly by an 81-67 vote. The measure would allow a mentally competent adult who has been given six months or less to live the option of being prescribed lethal drugs. The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, said she was motivated to introduce the legislation after her sister died of ovarian cancer. "I don't know whether she would have availed herself of this medication if she had the opportunity, but I can tell you that when she died, I wasn't there," Paulin, a Democrat, told reporters, according to the New York Post. Minnesota Lawmakers Propose Controversial Medically-assisted Suicide Bill "When she died, my other sisters were not there, and that was her wish," she continued. Read On The Fox News App Democrat Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, a registered nurse, said the bill would allow people to die with dignity. "If you don't believe in it, then don't avail yourself of that choice, but I think it is inhumane for us to tell people that we are forcing them to continue their suffering," Reyes said. Medically-assisted suicide has been gaining support in New York over the last decade, but opponents of the measure argue it is akin to state-sponsored assisted suicide. "I watched my mom die. I watched my daughter die. And I know that for a fact that none of us are getting out of here alive. At some point or the other, we're all going to go, but I don't believe there should be a combination of six drugs offered to someone to end their life," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Democrat, said on the Assembly floor, according to the New York Post. Terminally Ill Missouri Woman, 79, Taking Trip To Switzerland For Assisted Suicide Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, a Republican, said "each and every life has value" in arguing against the proposal. "Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It's incredibly sad," she said, referring to the state motto, "Excelsior" which means "ever upward." State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she would discuss the bill with senators, but she did not say whether she would bring it up for a floor vote. "The conversation had begun in earnest last year. So I think we have time to look at it seriously," she told reporters. It is unclear if Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul would sign the measure if it passed the state legislature. There are 10 U.S. states with legalized physician-assisted suicide. Several other countries, including Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, have also legalized assisted article source: New York Assembly passes bill to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill
Fox News
30-04-2025
- Health
- Fox News
New York Assembly passes bill to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill
The New York State Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill that would legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill people, sending the measure to the state Senate. The Medical Aid in Dying Act passed the Assembly by an 81-67 vote. The measure would allow a mentally competent adult who has been given six months or less to live the option of being prescribed lethal drugs. The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, said she was motivated to introduce the legislation after her sister died of ovarian cancer. "I don't know whether she would have availed herself of this medication if she had the opportunity, but I can tell you that when she died, I wasn't there," Paulin, a Democrat, told reporters, according to the New York Post. "When she died, my other sisters were not there, and that was her wish," she continued. Democrat Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, a registered nurse, said the bill would allow people to die with dignity. "If you don't believe in it, then don't avail yourself of that choice, but I think it is inhumane for us to tell people that we are forcing them to continue their suffering," Reyes said. Medically-assisted suicide has been gaining support in New York over the last decade, but opponents of the measure argue it is akin to state-sponsored assisted suicide. "I watched my mom die. I watched my daughter die. And I know that for a fact that none of us are getting out of here alive. At some point or the other, we're all going to go, but I don't believe there should be a combination of six drugs offered to someone to end their life," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Democrat, said on the Assembly floor, according to the New York Post. Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, a Republican, said "each and every life has value" in arguing against the proposal. "Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It's incredibly sad," she said, referring to the state motto, "Excelsior" which means "ever upward." State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she would discuss the bill with senators, but she did not say whether she would bring it up for a floor vote. "The conversation had begun in earnest last year. So I think we have time to look at it seriously," she told reporters. It is unclear if Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul would sign the measure if it passed the state legislature. There are 10 U.S. states with legalized physician-assisted suicide. Several other countries, including Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, have also legalized assisted suicide.
