Latest news with #MedicalAidinDyingAct
NDTV
10 hours ago
- 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.
New York Post
14 hours ago
- Health
- New York Post
NY state Senate approves doctor-assisted suicide bill, sends it to Hochul's desk for approval
ALBANY – State Senate Democrats passed highly controversial legislation that would allow terminally ill people to take their own lives with the help of doctors in a razor-thin vote Monday — leaving it up to Gov. Kathy Hochul whether to sign it into law. 'This is one of the great social reforms of our state,' state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), the bill's sponsor in the upper chamber, touted at a press conference earlier in the day Monday — putting the measure on the same tier as the legalization of gay marriage. 'This is about personal autonomy, this is about liberty, this is about exercising one's own freedom to control one's body,' Hoylman-Sigal continued. 3 The 'Medical Aid in Dying Act' passed the state senate Monday evening, meaning it only needs Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature to become law. Vaughn Golden The measure passed 35 to 27, with six Democrats – Senators April Baskin, Siela Bynoe, Cordelle Cleare, Monica Martinez, Roxanne Persaud, and Sam Sutton – voting against it. 'The governor will review the legislation,' a spokesperson for Hochul said. The bill's passage follows a years-long campaign that was fought tooth and nail by a diverse group of critics, including disability rights activists and the Catholic church, as well as many black and Orthodox Jewish communities. 'The Governor still has the opportunity to uphold New York's commitment to suicide prevention, protect vulnerable communities, and affirm that every life—regardless of disability, age, or diagnosis—is worthy of care, dignity, and protection,' The New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide wrote in a statement following the vote. A Catholic group slammed the bill's passing as 'a dark day for New York' and also called on Hochul to refuse to sign it. 'For the first time in its history, New York is on the verge of authorizing doctors to help their patients commit suicide. Make no mistake – this is only the beginning, and the only person standing between New York and the assisted suicide nightmare unfolding in Canada is Governor Hochul,' Dennis Poust, Executive Director of the New York State Catholic Conference, wrote in a statement. 3 The state Senate voted 35-27 Monday night to legalize physician-assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses. AP Ahead of the vote, the nearly three-hour debate on the Senate floor got emotional, with several lawmakers holding back tears as they explained their votes. Syracuse-area state Sen. Rachel May (D-Onondaga) shared the story of her late husband, who was receiving morphine in the final stages of his battle with cancer, which he eventually succumbed to at 32 years old. 'I don't know if the last largest dose he took also took his life, but I know that he died in peace,' May said. 'It isn't about controlling the disease or controlling the pain, it's about having control at the end of your life,' she said before voting in favor. Critics fear the legislation lacks critical safeguards over how doctors approve patients looking to receive the prescription for a lethal cocktail of drugs, such as a statutory waiting period, establishing clear chain of custody for the pills, mandating the doctor and recipient meet in-person, and requiring a disclosure that someone indeed used the drugs to take their own life. Under the bill, recipients would need approval from two doctors and a sign-off from two independent witnesses, after which they would receive a prescription for drugs they could use to take their life at a time of their choosing. 3 Gov. Kathy Hochul has not signaled whether she will sign the assisted suicide bill. Lev Radin/ZUMA / Doctors also do not have to conduct a mental health screening for each patient, but may refer a patient for one under the legislation. 'I don't think requesting end-of-life medication when an individual is suffering and in pain and dying suggests a mental health condition, if anything, I think it's quite rational,' Hoylman-Sigal said. Hoylman vowed the bill would not lead to such 'unintended consequences.' 'It was a professional organization that provided us crucial guidance, that helped us develop the state-of-the-art safeguards in this legislation that gave my colleagues and the general public, I believe, the assurance that there will not be unintended consequences,' he said. The legislation is referred to by its supporters as the 'Medical Aid in Dying' bill. 'The option of medical aid in dying provides comfort, allowing those who are dying to live their time more fully and peacefully until the end. I am profoundly grateful to Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins for giving her conference the space to have this important and emotional discussion,' Corinne Carey, Senior Campaign Director of Compassion and Choices, the main group driving the effort to pass the bill, wrote in a statement.
New York Post
19 hours ago
- Health
- New York Post
Looks like it's up to Hochul to kill the monstrous ‘assisted suicide' bill
New York is on track to become the 12th state to legalize 'assisted suicide' — and with the most radical law yet. The state Senate was rushing to vote late Monday on Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal's Medical Aid in Dying Act, with insiders certain the wheels were fully greased for passage. So it'll be up to Gov. Kathy Hochul to wield her veto and prevent a disgraceful mistake. Again, the New York bill breaks new ground — or sinks to a newer low. All 11 other states (Delaware became No. 11 last month) require a waiting period before you get your suicide-meds prescription filled; it's 15 days in Oregon but could be less than 24 hours in New York. The Empire State bill also has no real mechanism for tracking how many deaths it brings: Some commissioner is supposed to review a 'sample' of patient medical records and produce a yearly report to the Legislature on how it's going; that's it. Beyond the details, this is fundamentally about a reinvention of the medical profession: Out goes 'do no harm,' in comes a 'calculation' as to whether a given life is still worth living. With the state, and insurance companies, having a clear financial interest in ending 'marginal' lives and those whose care costs 'too much.' Anyone who wants to die can, in fact, find a way: This is purely about giving 'assisted suicide' the moral force of law, a big first step on the way to euthanasia for those with chronic conditions — even Alzheimer's. Canada is about to expand its law to allow 'doctor-assisted' killing in some cases where the underlying condition is mental disease, such as depression or anxiety. Advocates claim New York's bill covers only people with terminal diagnoses and six months or less to live — but 'terminal' isn't as exact a term as it sounds, and any diagnosis is simply a doctor's best guess. It's entirely appropriate that the chief Democratic resistance to this bill has been among lawmakers of color: Philosophically as well as historically, euthanasia is intimately connected with eugenics. That is: The same geniuses who imagine that humanity can be 'scientifically' improved by eliminating 'inferior characteristics' from the breeding pool also tend to think 'experts' can calculate which lives have values less than zero. Embrace that pseudo-mathematics, and soon enough the smart set will be busy 'helping' the disabled and those suffering chronic illnesses to 'realize' they're better off ending their lives. We have no idea what back-room deals suddenly made this bill a priority at the very end of the legislative session; it certainly wasn't any shift in public opinion. Hochul should do the right thing and kill the bill: At the very least, that'll force its supporters to explain why New York must have fewer safeguards than any state against abuse of a law that turns doctors into executioners.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
NYS lawmakers set vote to make assisted suicide legal despite controversy
ALBANY – State lawmakers are 'likely' to pass a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide next week –despite controversy over the legislation, the Senate Democratic leader said Thursday. The measure — which would allow people with six months or less to live to be prescribed a cocktail of drugs to end their lives — would be sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk after approval by the state legislature in a vote that could come as soon as Monday. 'I do believe there are the votes and it is likely it will come to the floor,' Senate Democratic Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins told reporters. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) said the Medical Aid in Dying Act will likely be brought up for a vote before the end of session next week. Hans Pennink 'Ultimately, the majority of the conference felt comfortable with providing options for people during difficult end of life times,' the Westchester County legislator said. A source familiar said the vote is likely to be scheduled for Monday and Stewart-Cousins' acknowledgement it is set for a vote indicates wide support in the Democratic caucus, which controls both houses of the legislature. Critics of the legislation – which include the Catholic church and disability rights groups, amongst others – argue the bill doesn't have adequate safeguards against abuse. 'We appreciate the Senator's desire to have a conversation about end of life care, but handing sick people a suicide cocktail is not compassion nor is it healthcare,' Bob Bellafiore, spokesperson for the New York State Catholic Conference told The Post. 'We know many Democratic senators have very deep reservations about this bill and they should be allowed to vote their conscience instead of toeing a party line,' he added. State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, one of the Senators driving the effort to pass the bill, said the legislation is about 'honoring choice.' A source said Stewart-Cousins' acknowledgement the measure is set for a vote indicates wide support for it in the Democratic caucus. Hans Pennink 'Passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act affirms New Yorkers' right to make deeply personal end-of-life decisions. This legislation offers terminally ill individuals the autonomy to choose a peaceful and dignified passing, surrounded by loved ones,' Scarcella-Spanton said. 'It's about honoring choice, alleviating suffering, and treating people with the compassion they deserve. I'm proud to see that we have the support to get this landmark piece of legislation done,' Scarcella-Spanton added.
Yahoo
5 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.
