By Steve Levy
We’ve been big critics of Governor Kathy Hochul’s leadership, but we believe her suggested reforms to the “aid in dying bill” on her desk make sense.
We’ve been supportive of this legislation that would allow the terminally ill to obtain medication to put them out of their misery, so long as there are adequate safeguards, such as multiple doctors giving approval and certifying the patient is terminal, and that there are independent witnesses verifying the desires and capacity of the patient.
But Hochul wants even more protections, including a video being made for posterity to prove those factors existed. She also wants a waiting period of a week between the signature and the administration of the medications. We see nothing unreasonable or overly burdensome about these additional requirements.
One would think that, after these proposals are adopted, the naysayers should have fewer objections. But they won’t relent. They are ideologically opposed to human beings being able to control the last week of their lives, even when in a terminal condition.
They have a right to their opinion, but we don’t believe they should have a right to deny other families the opportunity to make decisions for themselves.