Latest news with #Compassion&Choices
Politico
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Hochul faces perilous path on aid-in-dying legislation
The same poll found Hochul leading three potential Republican rivals in the 2026 gubernatorial race by at least 20 points, although none has announced. Corinne Carey, who serves as senior campaign director for New York and New Jersey for Compassion & Choices, which advocates for aid-in-dying bills, said that in the 11 states where similar laws passed there was little evidence of negative political consequences for supporters. 'No governor or lawmaker has ever lost at the polls following their action,' Carey said in a statement to POLITICO. 'Governor Hochul has nothing to fear politically and everything to gain by signing the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law.' But that's not stopping Hochul's political foes from wielding the issue as a political brickbat. One of her potential GOP challengers, Rep. Elise Stefanik, criticized the governor in a New York Post op-ed last month for her 'gutless silence' on the measure. 'The bill now sits on Hochul's desk, and where is she? Hiding. Silent. Dodging with a spineless 'she'll review the legislation' statement from her team,' Stefanik wrote, calling the legislation a 'moral travesty.' Hochul's office declined to comment on Stefanik's remarks or answer questions for this article. Stefanik and other aid-in-dying opponents have partly hinged their arguments on the state's low utilization of hospice and palliative care programs, which focus on improving seriously ill patients' quality of life by easing pain and distress. '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,' Stefanik said in a statement after its passage in the Assembly. But Jeanne Chirico, president of the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State, denounced arguments that pit the two treatment pathways against each other. She said Hochul should invest more resources into hospice and palliative care regardless of her decision on medical aid in dying, noting that the association is neutral on the bill. In states that have authorized medical aid in dying, 88 percent of individuals who used it were enrolled in hospice or palliative care services at the time of their deaths, according to a report released this year by Compassion & Choices. New York would become the 12th state to legalize the measure. 'This is not an independent decision on medical aid in dying — this is about quality of end-of-life care,' Chirico said. Chirico said the association met post-session with the governor's office to discuss the aid-in-dying bill and press for state funding to bolster the hospice and palliative care workforce.
NDTV
10-06-2025
- Health
- NDTV
New York State Senate To Allow Terminally Ill People To End Their Lives Peacefully
The New York State Senate passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act on Monday by a vote of 35-27, giving legal rights to terminally ill people to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs. The bill, which was approved in the State Assembly 81-67 in April, will head to Governor Kathy Hochul for final approval. Once it gets final approval and becomes a law, the Medical Aid in Dying Act will allow terminally ill adults, who are mentally capable with a prognosis of six months or less, to end their lives peacefully using a prescription. The prognosis should be confirmed by two doctors. New York will join other states, including Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Colorado, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, New Mexico and New Jersey, to legalise medical aid in dying if the governor signs the bill. It's also legal in the District of Columbia. "It's been a long road but thanks to the dedicated activists from groups like Compassion & Choices and Death with Dignity we have built the broadest coalition ever assembled of doctors, nurses, patients and legal advocates from across New York to support this bill," Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Senate Sponsor of Medical Aid in Dying, said in a press release. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Westchester Democrat who leads the body's Health Committee, first introduced the bill a decade ago. It was personal for her as she had watched her sister die after a battle with cancer the year before. "After more than a decade of advocacy, we are finally on the brink of giving terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy and dignity they deserve at life's end. This legislation is about easing needless suffering and honouring deeply personal choices," Paulin said.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kansas law nullifying end-of-life wishes during pregnancy challenged in court
A Kansas state law that revokes a person's decisions about end-of-life care if they are pregnant is now being challenged in court. Three women, one of whom is currently pregnant, and two doctors filed a lawsuit in Kansas over a clause in the state's Natural Death Act that denies people who are pregnant with the ability to accept or refuse health care if they become incapacitated or terminally ill. The plaintiffs argue that the clause violates their rights to liberty and personal autonomy and infringes their right to privacy. Emma Vernon, the plaintiff who is currently pregnant, wrote an advance health care directive outlining the care she would like to receive if she is diagnosed with a terminal condition. Vernon said she would like to only accept life-sustaining treatment if 'there is a reasonable medical certainty' that her child would reach full term and be born 'with a meaningful prospect of sustained life' and without health conditions that would 'impair its quality of life,' according to the lawsuit. But her directive has not been 'given the same deference the law affords to others who complete directives because of the Pregnancy Exclusion,' the lawsuit argues. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach's (R) office did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill about the lawsuit. All states have laws that give people the right to craft advance directives on the health care they would like to receive if they become unable to make their own health decisions. And many of those laws have caveats excluding pregnant people, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the lawsuit's filing. Kansas is one of nine states with a law that invalidates an advanced directive of a pregnant patient regardless of if the fetus can survive, according to Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization that advocates for end-of-life care. The doctors who joined the lawsuit filed Thursday say the law forces them to provide pregnant patients with a lower standard of care than other patients and opens them up to civil and criminal lawsuits and professional penalties. Compassion & Choices, along with the abortion and reproductive rights lawyer group If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice and the law firm Irigonegaray & Revenaugh, filed the lawsuit on behalf of all five plaintiffs. End-of-life care laws have come under scrutiny recently amid reports of a brain-dead pregnant woman in Georgia whose family says doctors are keeping on life support until her baby can be delivered to abide by the state's abortion ban. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Kansas law disregarding end-of-life wishes during pregnancy challenged in court
A Kansas state law that revokes a person's decisions about end-of-life care if they are pregnant is now being challenged in court. Three women, one of whom is currently pregnant, and two doctors filed a lawsuit in Kansas over a clause in the state's Natural Death Act that denies people who are pregnant with the ability to accept or refuse health care if they become incapacitated or terminally ill. The plaintiffs argue that the clause violates their rights to liberty and personal autonomy and infringes their right to privacy. Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here Emma Vernon, the plaintiff who is currently pregnant, wrote an advance health care directive outlining the care she would like to receive if she is diagnosed with a terminal condition. Vernon said she would like to only accept life-sustaining treatment if 'there is a reasonable medical certainty' that her child would reach full term and be born 'with a meaningful prospect of sustained life' and without health conditions that would 'impair its quality of life,' according to the lawsuit. But her directive has not been 'given the same deference the law affords to others who complete directives because of the Pregnancy Exclusion,' the lawsuit argues. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach's (R) office did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill about the lawsuit. All states have laws that give people the right to craft advance directives on the health care they would like to receive if they become unable to make their own health decisions. And many of those laws have caveats excluding pregnant people, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the lawsuit's filing. Kansas is one of nine states with a law that invalidates an advanced directive of a pregnant patient regardless of if the fetus can survive, according to Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization that advocates for end-of-life care. The doctors who joined the lawsuit filed Thursday say the law forces them to provide pregnant patients with a lower standard of care than other patients and opens them up to civil and criminal lawsuits and professional penalties. Compassion & Choices, along with the abortion and reproductive rights lawyer group If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice and the law firm Irigonegaray & Revenaugh, filed the lawsuit on behalf of all five plaintiffs. End-of-life care laws have come under scrutiny recently amid reports of a brain-dead pregnant woman in Georgia whose family says doctors are keeping on life support until her baby can be delivered to abide by the state's abortion ban.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New York bill would allow terminally ill patients to end their lives
NEW YORK (PIX11) – A bill that will help terminally ill patients end their lives is set to pass the New York State Assembly, according to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. Assembly Bill A136, known as the Medical Aid in Dying Act, would allow terminally ill adults to request a prescription for medication they can ingest to die in their sleep, according to the bill. More Local News 'Passing this bill is about love, compassion, and reducing needless suffering,' Paulin said. 'No one should have to endure agony when there is a better, humane choice available.' To be eligible for prescribed aid in dying, patients need a terminal illness verified by two doctors and must have six months or less to live. They must verbally request and submit a written request that is witnessed by two individuals who are unrelated to them or their care facility. Witnesses cannot have a financial interest in the estate, according to the bill. At the time of ingestion, patients must be able to self-administer the medication, ensuring a voluntary choice. Physicians also must inform patients about all available end-of-life care options, including hospice and palliative care. Paulin stated terminally ill New Yorkers deserve autonomy, dignity, and peace at the end of life. Oregon became the first state in 1994 to legalize aid in dying. Currently, medical aid in dying is legal in California, Maine, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Montana, Washington, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Vermont. All these states have aid-in-dying bills, according to Compassion & Choices. Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
