Hochul to sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act

In this photo provided by the Office of the New York Governor, Governor Kathy Hochul delivers the 2025 State of the State Address, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Albany, N.Y. Photo: Mike Groll/Office of the New York Governor via AP

ALBANY — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL on Thursday confirmed an agreement with the state legislature to make medical aid in dying available to terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live.

The governor said in a statement that the move comes after “careful reflection and deliberation” with the sponsors of the Medical Aid in Dying Act, advocacy organizations and everyday New Yorkers. Citing personal experience with her mother’s death from ALS, Hochul framed the measure as preserving dignity by shortening dying, not life.

Hochul negotiated amendments requiring multiple medical confirmations, mental health screening, waiting periods and protections against coercion. “A doctor has to say, ‘You have six months to live, and that is it,’” she said. Any hospital which does not want to offer the service because of religious beliefs will not be required to. The bill is set to be passed and signed in January, and the law will go into effect six months later.

New York’s Catholic bishops, including Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan, issued a joint rebuke, warning the law signals abandonment of vulnerable people and conflicts with Catholic teaching, according to The Tablet. Hochul is a lifelong Catholic.

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