New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act faces two lawsuits just over a week out from its Aug. 5 effective date, though there are currently no injunctions stopping it from going into effect.
An initial lawsuit brought by disability rights groups including the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled; the Regional Center for Independent Living; the United Spinal Association; Not Dead Yet; the Institute for Patients’ Rights; the National Council on Independent Living; and the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley claims that people with life-threatening disabilities belong to a protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act and are at risk of harm if the law goes into effect.
Their argument centers on the idea that individuals with those life-threatening disabilities who have difficulty accessing care could end up relying on medical aid in dying after not being able to receive proper treatment. They argue that even those who qualify under all of the safeguards put in place under the law are still covered under the ADA as having a life-threatening disability and therefore could instead be receiving other care.
“If you do not qualify whatsoever, it’s possible that some doctor will say, ‘you don’t qualify, so I’m not going to help you kill yourself.’ What I’m pointing to is that every single person who does qualify is a person with disabilities under the ADA and you’re providing them with different care,” said Matt Vallière, executive director, Institute for Patients’ Rights.
David Hoffman, assistant professor of bioethics at Columbia University, countered that the two sides of the argument are “talking past each other.”
While he agreed that it is more difficult than it should be for individuals with disabilities to access treatment, he disagrees that such a concern lies within the law’s legal scope given its list of safeguards, including that someone must be a terminally ill adult with six months or less to live.
“It’s a convoluted argument about a disability as a terminal condition,” he said. “That has nothing to do with the Medical Aid in Dying law, which is focused on people with a terminal and incurable condition where the issue is not their ability to access care, it is their decision to not pursue further curative treatment, for example, patients who use hospice.”
In a second lawsuit filed earlier this month, four orders of Catholic nuns and several Catholic healthcare ministries argue that the law infringes on their religious freedoms by forcing them to participate in care that goes against their religious beliefs.
“For generations, these Catholic Sisters and their health care ministries have devoted their lives to caring for New Yorkers at their lowest moments, staying by their side when they are sick and facing death,” said Adèle Keim, senior counsel at Becket and an attorney for the health care ministries. “But now, New York has passed a law that forces the Sisters to offer their patients assisted suicide counseling, and help their patients on the path to ending their own lives. The Sisters are asking for protection so they can keep providing the same care and love they have always offered.”
Hoffman argued otherwise, telling Spectrum News 1 there are clear carve-outs for both institutions and individuals not comfortable with complying, and those carve-outs were a condition of Gov. Kathy Hochul signing the law late last year.
“If that is a mission-driven issue for that organization and Catholic hospitals would certainly qualify, but in a non-mission-driven institution, an individual clinician can decline to participate,” he said.
Those behind the lawsuit insist that the carve-outs are too narrow and still could require them to initiate a referral to another provider for a practice that goes against their beliefs, thereby playing a role in carrying out medical aid in dying.
Upon the filing of the lawsuit, Hochul’s office in a statement stressed the safeguards included during negotiations over the bill, “While we cannot comment on any pending litigation, the historic legislation allows terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live to make a voluntary, informed decision to request medication for medical aid in dying. It reflects years of thoughtful planning and consideration. The Department of Health is working on regulations that will implement the law thoughtfully and responsibly.”