Medical Aid in Dying Act signed into law

ALBANY – Governor Kathy Hochul has signed the highly debated Medical Aid in Dying Act into law.

The legislation legalizes assisted suicide for terminally ill people. Hochul said the signing of the bill came after “careful reflection and deliberation with the sponsors of the bill, advocacy organizations, and everyday New Yorkers brave enough to share their personal experiences in order to get this legislation across the finish line.”

The bill, as passed by the Legislature originally included a number of protections in order to ensure that no patient was coerced into choosing medical aid in dying and that no health care professional or religiously affiliated health facility would be forced to offer medical aid in dying. The Governor worked with the Legislature to include additional guardrails that will make sure people won’t be taken advantage of, while still ensuring terminally ill New Yorkers have the choice to die comfortably and on their own terms, including:

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) sponsored the legislation and was inspired after her sister died of ovarian cancer.

“The Medical Aid in Dying Act gives New Yorkers the dignity they deserve at the most vulnerable moment in their lives,” Paulin said. “This legislation is about love, autonomy, and easing needless suffering. My sister died a horrific death from ovarian cancer, and in her final days she was in pain so overwhelming that she begged for death. Her experience is, tragically, the story of so many others. Most people will never choose medical aid in dying, but they want the reassurance of having it as a compassionate safeguard that offers comfort even if it is never used.”