Syndication: The Record
(New York, NY) — A bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill in New York is now headed to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, but it’s still unclear today if she’ll sign it. The state Senate voted 35 to 27 in favor of the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which allows a doctor to prescribe life ending drugs to patients with six months or less to live.
The Catholic church was very vocal in it’s opposition to the measure, so were disability activists, who worry New Yorkers could be pressured to end their lives. Right to death advocates say terminally ill New Yorkers, of sound mind, should be able to end their lives on their own timelines. Many who pushed to pass the bill say they watched loved ones suffer for too long at the end of their lives.
Under the bill. those who request to end their lives will need both a written and oral request to do so, along with the ability to administer the life ending drugs on their own.
Governor Hochul’s team says she’s reviewing the legislation. If she were to sign off on the measure, New York would become the 12th state to approve medically assisted suicide.
