(The Center Square) – In New York, doctors can now prescribe medicine for terminally ill patients to end their lives.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose mother died after a painful battle with ALS, said she wrestled with the ethical and moral issues surrounding the controversial proposal but ultimately decided to put her signature on the bill after negotiating with lawmakers to add safeguards preventing potential abuse.
“New York has long been a beacon of freedom, and now it is time we extend that freedom to terminally ill New Yorkers who want the right to die comfortably and on their own terms,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Although this was an incredibly difficult decision, I ultimately determined that with the additional guardrails agreed upon with the legislature, this bill would allow New Yorkers to suffer less – to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”
The new law, approved by the state Legislature earlier this year, will allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults who have been given a prognosis of six months or less to have the ability to request medication to end their lives.
Backers of the proposal said the legislation includes safeguards, including a requirement that patients make verbal requests for a doctor’s intervention and get a written request signed by two witnesses. At least two physicians would need to certify that the patient seeking access to lethal medicine is suffering from an incurable, irreversible condition.
Health care insurers would be banned from recommending or providing information on medical aid in dying to patients, including alongside denial of coverage notices for other treatments, under the proposal. The plan would also shield physicians and patients from any legal ramifications from medical aid-in-dying procedures.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat and primary sponsor of the bill, called its final approval a “monumental victory for every New Yorker who has wished to peacefully end their suffering from a terminal illness.”
“Since we first introduced this legislation nine years ago, I have consistently said this bill is not about ending life, it’s about shortening death,” he said in a statement.
Republican lawmakers voted against the bill, with some claiming it would encourage suicide among those suffering from depression and other mental health issues. Others suggested that the state should focus on improving other areas of health care, such as palliative services.
The New York State Catholic Conference, which had urged Hochul to reject the proposal, criticized the governor for giving final approval to the “physician assisted suicide” legislation. The group said the measure would contribute to a “culture of death” and lacks critical safeguards over how doctors approve patients looking to get a prescription for a lethal cocktail of drugs to end their life.
“This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Bishops of New York State said in a statement.
“We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care,” they added. “And we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a Culture of Death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”
Medical aid-in-dying is currently permitted in 12 states, including New Jersey and Vermont as well as Washington, D.C., according to the group Compassionate Choices.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1997 left the issue largely up to states. Thirty-seven states have since banned the practice, either at the ballot box or by legislative act.
