Before the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, Gov. Kathy Hochul has to decide if she will sign or veto a proposed law that would make physician-assisted suicide legal in New York.
The bill is backed by family members and advocates of loved ones with terminal illnesses, but opposed by a handful of medical groups, disabilities rights organizations and the Catholic Church.
What You Need To Know
The bill is backed by family members and advocates of loved ones with terminal illnesses, but opposed by a handful of medical groups, disabilities rights organizations and the Catholic Church
Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering editing the bill that passed quietly last spring by the state legislature. Details confirmed by NY1 include: requiring terminally ill patients to videotape themselves asking for the life-ending prescriptions, mandating a psychiatric evaluation and ensuring it’s only available to New York state residents
Thursday evening, a group of opponents hosted a candlelight vigil outside the governor’s Manhattan office, to bring awareness to the legislation
Thursday evening, a group of opponents hosted a candlelight vigil outside the governor’s Manhattan office to bring awareness to the legislation.
“This is a very challenging moral question for individuals,” Hochul said during a press conference Thursday afternoon at her Midtown office. “That is why I’ve taken the time and I’m treating this very seriously because I know there [are] very heartfelt strong emotions on both sides of the debate.”
According to the news outlet Gothamist, Hochul is considering editing the bill that passed quietly last spring by the state legislature.
Details confirmed by NY1 include: requiring terminally ill patients to videotape themselves asking for the life-ending prescriptions, mandating a psychiatric evaluation and ensuring it’s only available to New York state residents.
“I’m not discussing bills that are still being negotiated,” Hochul said.
Backed by the state Bar Association and Corinne Carey from the advocacy group Compassion and Choices, who said in a statement she’s against any changes.
“New Yorkers should not be forced to suffer needlessly at the end of their lives. We remain confident that…can reach [a] language that honors compassion, protects bodily autonomy, and reflects the strongest evidence available. New Yorkers deserve nothing less,” she said.
If signed into law, mentally competent, terminally ill adults with six months or less left to live could request the medication. Witnesses — not related to the patient, who don’t stand to benefit from an inheritance following their death — would need to be present, and two doctors must sign off.
“We have to continue to give positive witness, to give prophetic voices,” Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said Thursday evening outside the governor’s office.
“The governor has had tremendous work in suicide prevention and signing a bill like this that puts our most vulnerable neighbors in danger of being abandoned by their doctors is counter to everything that Governor Hochul has been doing,” Jessica Rodgers, director of Patients Rights Action Fund Coalitions, said.
“Whether you can’t afford it or you can’t access the treatment for it, it can become terminal. If you don’t manage your diabetes, that can be a terminal condition,” she added, arguing the proposal presents a slippery slope and pointing to data from Oregon, where the law has been on the books for decades.
“For reasons of disability and not wanting to be a burden on their loved ones. For able-bodied people going into their doctor and saying they ‘feel like a burden,’ they would receive appropriate mental health interventions,” Rodgers said.
If Hochul approves the bill, New York would join 11 other states and Washington, D.C.