End of life legislation in New York State gets new push by advocates

A bill to allow terminally ill people with six months or less to live the option to take life-ending medication is gaining more public support and attention after languishing in Albany for nearly a decade, according to advocates of the measure.

They're hoping the proposal’s widening appeal will help sway state lawmakers to legalize the act in New York this year. The proposal, known as the medical aid in dying bill, first was introduced in Albany in 2016.

"This is an issue that evokes very strong emotions on both sides," Mike Murphy, communications director for Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said in a statement.

Several groups, including some religious organizations, remain opposed to the bill. But sponsor Assemb. Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) said in an interview she is optimistic the measure will be turned into law this year. 

Some recent polls show support for such a measure among the public. 

"I think that people need to have choices. At their most vulnerable point in life they shouldn't be forced to go to New Jersey, California or Oregon to get those choices. They should have them right here in New York State," Paulin added. 

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) is sponsoring the senate version of the bill.

Strict criteria proposed

Ten states in all, including New Jersey, Vermont and Maine on the East Coast, along with Washington, D.C., have legalized such measures, while others are considering it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan organization.

Last year, several new New York groups got behind the proposal, including the Medical Society of New York, the New York Nurses Association, the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Council of Churches, upping the count of supporting organizations to at least 60, according to Corinne Carey, senior campaign director for New York and New Jersey at Compassion & Choices. The nonprofit advocacy group has pushed for such laws across the country.

Carey said in an interview New York's proposal is based on legislation in Oregon, which was the first state to adopt such a measure 30 years ago. To qualify for such measures, people must meet strict criteria, she added.

Under the proposed legislation, people at least 18 years old with a medically confirmed terminal illness who have six months or less to live could request life-ending medication from a physician. Two doctors would have to confirm the prognosis. A candidate would have to be mentally competent to make an informed decision without being coerced and be able to self-administer and ingest the medication. The person wouldn't be obligated to take it. 

"This bill does not allow someone who is simply dissatisfied with the quality of their life to use medical aid in dying. It does not allow someone to say, because I'm not receiving adequate services, I want to die," Carey said.

In addition, medical providers wouldn't be required to participate in the measure under the proposed bill. 

Doctor shopping concerns

Gallup last year found 66% of 512 respondents surveyed nationwide believed doctors should "be allowed by law to assist the patient to commit suicide" for patients in pain with incurable and deadly diseases who request it. 

A 2024 Mount Sinai South Nassau Truth in Medicine poll found more than a third of 600 people surveyed on Long Island and in New York City supported medical aid in dying legislation.

Last year, a poll commissioned by Death with Dignity, an advocacy group for those who support medical aid in dying, found that of 1,011 New Yorkers surveyed, 72% of them supported the measure as well. 

Opponents said they are concerned the legislation is a slippery slope that could expand the conditions for accessing lethal medication and threaten vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities and the elderly.

Max Rodriguez, manager of government affairs at the Albany-based Center for Disability Rights, said in an interview he is worried "there’s really no enforcement to ensure that there isn’t an abuse of the lethal prescription." He also believes the bill would perpetuate the myth that people with disabilities cannot live fulfilling lives. He is worried people will shop around for doctors until they find ones who suit their position.

"If your doctor refuses, there also is nothing from stopping you going from going doctor to doctor to doctor until you take on a sympathetic doctor," Rodriguez said.

The New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, which includes 12 state organizations, said on its website that terminal patients have "alternatives to assisted suicide" and pain management can ease suffering.

Kristen Curran, director of government relations for the New York State Catholic Conference, said in an interview that beyond the religious reasons for being against the measure, there are other issues, including the concern insurance companies could push an option that's cheaper than extended medical care to populations who are "devalued."

A 'measure of happiness'

Supporters of the proposed legislation said the option would alleviate unnecessary pain and suffering.

Geri Barish, founder of Hewlett House, a free cancer resource center, recently became emotional during an interview while recalling the last days of her son Michael's life in 1986. 

Barish, a cancer survivor, said her son, a hobbyist who loved taking photos of nature, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma more than a decade before he died at age 25. The disease ravaged his body and made it increasingly difficult to breathe, she said.

"He used to say to me, 'Please, I can't breathe. I just want to die.' And it was the most horrible thing when you know there's nothing more that can be done. You've gone to a million doctors in a million places," Barish said.

The legislation, she believes, would offer a compassionate end for people in need.

"If there isn't anything more that can be done ... it's your right to go the way you want to go and be at peace," Barish said.

Yale Rosen, 89, a retired pathologist who lives in North Bellmore, said in an interview he has seen many people with terminal illnesses who would have benefited from this option. For people who are terminally ill, there's comfort, Rosen said, in being able to end their lives on their own terms.

"It’s not really a downer for friends and relatives. It's a well-thought-out decision that the patient has made, very often in consultation with friends and close family," Rosen said.

In Manhattan, retired geriatrician Jeremy Boal has become a public face of the bill.

In 2023, the New York City resident was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a fatal disease with an average survival of two to five years, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In an interview, Boal, 57, described plunging into a deep depression before finding hope by realizing he could control his own mortality, if not in this state, in another where medically assisted dying is permitted. The realization gave him "a measure of happiness again," Boal said.

It's a matter of compassion and also one of equity, he added.

"It won't be easy for me to travel to another state, when I'm in the later stages of ALS, which is uniformly fatal, but I could do it and so that gave me a tremendous amount of comfort," Boal said. "It really brought home for me how many New Yorkers won’t have that ability."