(WBEN) - Governor Kathy Hochul has announced she will support the Medical Aid in Dying Act that allows for physician assisted suicide in New York.
Hochul made the announcement in an editorial in the Albany Times Union Wednesday morning.
"I decided to support legalizing medical aid in dying in very specific circumstances and with significant protections included in the law to ensure it is not misused or broadly applied," Hochul said in the editorial.
The Governor will sign the bill once the Legislature approves amended language that includes what she calls additional guardrails.
Those include a mandatory five day waiting period, and a written and recorded request. Anyone who may benefit financially from the person's death is disqualified from being a witness or interpreter.
The law will also require confirmation from a doctor that the person had less than six months to live, and from a psychiatrist that the patient is capable and not under duress.
Religious hospitals and affiliated facilities can opt out of the program. Only New York residents would be eligible.
The Governor said the effective date of the bill has been extended to ensure time for regulations, but did not specify when that date would be.