The Medical Aid in Dying Act, or MAID, goes into effect Wednesday. Access may vary across the state, as hospitals and healthcare providers develop their policies.
New York is the 13th jurisdiction to officially enact this law, joining a dozen states and Washington, D.C. Under it, mentally capable adults with a terminal illness and a prognosis of six months or less can request medication to end their lives peacefully.
According to the state Department of Health, a patient must be able to self-administer the medication. That’s because the act needs to be “a voluntary and deliberate choice.” It doesn’t require physicians or hospitals to participate, who still await guidance from the state DOH. State leaders included what the governor’s office has been calling “additional guardrails that will make sure people won’t be taken advantage of.”
Not everyone is on board with this taking effect, however.
“As part of our work, the work of the church, we do a lot to care for the vulnerable, vulnerable populations. And that includes the medically disenfranchized, the poor, the medically underserved, and, of course, the disabilities community,” Kristen Curran, the New York State Catholic Conference’s Director of Government Relations said. “We do a lot of work with the disabilities community. And we know, again, having watched this law be implemented elsewhere. We know that this is a very dangerous and devastating law.”
“We also don’t believe that the religious views of some should be able to stop other people from using a law if they so desire,” Death With Dignity National Legislative Consultant Geoff Sugerman said.
New York’s version closely follows the original Oregon model. It was the nation’s first law on this in 1994. The law hasn’t stayed the same there or in other states, either. Some have changed who can participate, or allowed advanced practice nurses and nurse practitioners to work with patients, getting rid of residency requirements, and shortening the waiting period between approval and medication. For New York, that is five days.
There have been at least two lawsuits filed against MAID. As recently as last week, a U.S. District Judge ruled that the group of disability rights advocates who filed lacked standing, denying their request for an injunction on the law. The second suit comes from four orders of Catholic nuns and several Catholic healthcare ministries. They say the law infringes on their religious freedoms by forcing them to participate in care that goes against their religious beliefs.