Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — New York’s controversial new law giving terminally ill adults the legal right to die by prescribed medication officially went into effect on Wednesday, drawing reaction from advocates and opponents.<\/p>\n
BACKGROUND: Stage 4 cancer patient supports Hochul’s plan to sign Medical Aid in Dying Act<\/a> | Reactions mixed over NYS lawmakers passing Medical Aid in Dying Act<\/a><\/p>\n For Scott Barraco of Chili, whose late partner Cathy Quinn had tongue cancer, the passage of the Medical Aid in Dying Act took 12 years of advocacy.<\/p>\n “It’s just a good feeling to know that New Yorkers don’t have to suffer against their will unnecessarily,” Baracco said.<\/p>\n Barraco said that in 2014, doctors told Quinn, then 44, that she had a terminal diagnosis and less than six months to live. He said Quinn did not want to suffer and wished to die on her own terms.<\/p>\n “They explained to us that the closest autonomy she had in New York state at that time was to voluntarily stop eating and drinking,” Barraco explained. “I think the moment that she died was peaceful, but it’s nothing like what she wanted or could have had if Medical Aid in Dying was there.”<\/p>\n MORE: Terminal patients ask New York to legalize help with dying<\/a><\/p>\n Bryan O’Malley, Vice President for External Affairs at the Center for Disability Rights, strongly opposes the law <\/a>and said it devalues the lives of disabled individuals.<\/p>\n “It is powerful when the state says, ‘Here’s an out,'” O’Malley said. “That is a powerful message. I think we want to make sure that the response is heard just as loudly, just as powerfully, that you don’t need an out.”<\/p>\n O\u2019Malley said the center houses the \u201cNot Dead Yet Project,\u201d a long-standing group that views the practice as discrimination.<\/p>\n In a letter, Bishop John S. Bonnici also expressed opposition, saying the law “fails to uphold the dignity of every human person, especially those who are most vulnerable.”<\/p>\n \u201cWe will look to push against that ableism in every fabric of what we do,” O\u2019Malley said. “And we will continue to be a resource as we move forward.”<\/p>\n O\u2019Malley and other opponents are still fighting the law in court. <\/p>\n