The Medical Aid in Dying bill, which legalizes medically assisted suicide for terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live, was sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 31. She has 30 days to sign the bill, excluding Sundays and holidays, which makes the deadline for her signature midnight on Friday, Feb. 6.

The Legislature is expected to pass previously agreed upon chapter amendments to the bill next week, possibly Wednesday or Thursday. 

According to Compassion & Choices, a group which has advocated for the Medical Aid in Dying bill, the amendments include:

A mandatory waiting period of five days
An oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio and permanently stored in the patient’s medical record
A mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying by a psychologist, neurologist, or psychiatrist
Strengthening 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, unless attending physician believes an in-person visit would result in extraordinary hardship
Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying, while ensuring a patient receiving hospice care within their own home is not restricted from accessing 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.

Here is the Assembly bill and memo for the chapter amendments.

The amendments are being carried by the Health Committee chairs in each house — Assemblymember Amy Paulin and Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

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