The MAID Act<\/a> requires that patients, who must be adult New York residents, record the request with an audio or video device, to be \u201cpermanently stored in the patient\u2019s medical record.\u201d A doctor must ensure the patient is making an informed, independent decision. Patients also have to undergo a mental health evaluation \u2014 a provision that isn\u2019t common in other states with similar laws.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allows people to die with dignity. They can choose a passing that aligns with their personal values,\u201d said Adrienne Borschuk, an assistant professor of bioethics and humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, who has worked as a pediatric palliative care psychologist since 2016.<\/p>\n Only patients themselves can apply, not surrogate decisionmakers like family members or court-appointed guardians, and the patient can cancel the request at any time. Once someone goes through the evaluation process, and a doctor writes a prescription, there\u2019s a five-day waiting period before the patient can fill the prescription and self-administer the legal dose.<\/p>\n Patients are supported at every step, Borschuk explained, with check-ins to ensure: \u201cIs this the right thing for the patient? Is this patient allowed to make this decision? Is this person meeting criteria? Are there other things that would better serve this patient?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just a patient-led decision. This really is shared decisionmaking with a lot of stops along the way to make sure that everyone\u2019s staying safe \u2014 that this is, you know, the ethically and morally right choice for this patient, and that they continue to meet criteria,\u201d Borschuk said.<\/p>\n Oregon was the first state to legalize medical aid in dying, in 1994, passing its Death with Dignity Act, which surmounted legal challenges including in the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Oregon. The high court said the federal Controlled Substances Act doesn\u2019t bar doctors from prescribing medications under a valid state MAID law.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court held in 1997, in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill, that there is no constitutional right to assisted dying, and it\u2019s up to states to pass such legislation. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have done so.<\/p>\n In the Empire State, a nonprofit called End of Life Choices New York will manage the MAID process.<\/p>\n Leaders in the Catholic Church have fiercely opposed New York\u2019s implementation of the law, which underwent amendments in its journey to the governor\u2019s desk that make it one of the strictest in the country: It\u2019s the first state to require an evaluation by a mental health professional, in addition to the physician\u2019s assessment, determining a patient\u2019s capacity to make an informed decision.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of an extra layer of, \u2018Yes, we\u2019re sure that this person has the capacity to make this decision\u2019\u201d said Borschuk, who co-authored an article<\/a> for the New York State Bar Association that calls for additional guidance around what that evaluation should entail.<\/p>\n The checks in place are not sufficient for the act\u2019s harshest critics, however, prompting a now-dismissed lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York and one pending in the Northern District of New York.<\/p>\n Lead plaintiffs Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, a convent in Germantown, are joined<\/a> in the latter suit by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, the Little Sisters of the Poor and several skilled nursing and senior living facilities in the Catholic Health system.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York has put the sisters to a stark choice: Either abandon their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life or face significant fines and penalties,\u201d write the plaintiffs, who are represented by attorneys from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.<\/p>\n Before the MAID Act<\/a>, New York\u2019s Palliative Care Information Act only required that health care providers inform patients of their options for treatments or managing pain. The plaintiff nuns, who consider the measure to be assisted suicide, say requiring them to offer patients an option that contravenes their beliefs is a First Amendment violation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re fighting to ensure that Catholic healthcare ministries can continue caring for sick and dying New Yorkers without being forced to participate in assisted suicide. New York is threatening them with fines and even jail time for refusing, putting the very survival of their ministries \u2014 and the vulnerable patients who depend on them \u2014 at risk,\u201d said Adele Keim, senior counsel at Becket and attorney for the healthcare ministries, in an email to Courthouse News.<\/p>\n Religious facilities are permitted to opt out of MAID, and refer patients who wish to take advantage of it to another facility. But the nuns filing suit say that provision is too narrow compared to other states.<\/p>\n \u201cIt still forces objecting ministries to counsel patients about assisted suicide, actively connect them with doctors willing to provide it, and, in some cases, permit the practice on their own premises,\u201d Keim said. \u201cA genuine exemption would let them continue to do what they\u2019ve always done \u2014 offer their patients the best possible care and a loving personal presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, with the law\u2019s enactment days away, New York state agreed to a voluntary temporary restraining order as the law pertains to the plaintiffs, to give the parties time to file motion papers and the judge time to make a ruling.<\/p>\n Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rosary-hill-home-800x600.jpg\")
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne care for a patient at Rosary Hill Home, the sisters’ apostolate in Hawthorne, New York. (U.S. District Court)<\/p>\n
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