By Hank Russell
Starting August 5, the state’s Medical Aid In Dying (MAID) Act goes into effect, which will allow physicians to administer life-ending medications to those who wish to die and have less than six months to live.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, the bill — sponsored by state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D, WF-Manhattan) and Assemblymember Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) — was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in January. The legislation also had a number of protections in place to ensure that no patient was forced into utilizing medical aid in dying and no doctor or religiously affiliated health facility was forced to offer it.
LILP also reported that, with an agreement with the state Legislature, Hochul announced a number of additional guardrails. These included:
- a mandatory waiting period of five days between when a prescription is written and filled.
- an oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio.
- a mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
- a prohibition against anyone who may benefit financially from the death of a patient from being eligible to serve as a witness to the oral request or an interpreter for the patient.
- limiting the availability of medical aid in dying to New York residents.
- requiring that the initial evaluation of a patient by a physician be in person.
- allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying.
- ensuring that a violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct under the Education Law.
- extending the effective date of the bill to six months after signing to allow the Department of Health to put into place regulations required to implement the law while also ensuring that health care facilities can properly prepare and train staff for compliance.
“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul said after signing the law.
Local elected officials were split on the MAID Act. As LILP previously reported, Assemblymember Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) supported the bill, while Keith Brown (R.C-Northport) and Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) opposed it.
Although the bill is now law, the controversy surrounding it still lingers. Bruce Darling, president and CEO of the Center for Disability Rights, said the law “doesn’t distinguish between disabled people.”
“Right now, what’s happening is disabled individuals are theoretically being given a right to die, while at the same time being denied an opportunity to live,” Darling told WROC-TV in Rochester. “That is not choice. That’s coercion.”
The outlet also reported that a group of healthcare ministries and four orders of nuns, including the Little Sisters of the Poor, have filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming the MAID Act forces them to administer end-of-life services, which goes against their faith.
“Because of the court’s order, the Catholic nuns and healthcare ministries challenging New York’s assisted-suicide mandate can continue to offer the sick and dying care, comfort, and hope — not death,” Laura Wolk Slavis, counsel at Becket The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and an attorney for the healthcare ministries. “That should be welcome news to thousands of New Yorkers who have relied on these ministries for generations. We’ll keep fighting to ensure they can continue that work for good.”
The Long Island Coalition for Life blasted the new law, calling it “state-sanctioned suicide” and vowing to educate those who have suicide ideation.
“The LICL is opposed to any form of assisted suicide,” the group said. “It is a disgrace that New York State now calls suicide a treatment for patients who want to kill themselves.”