Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's been nearly six months since the New York State Legislature passed the Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Act, which would allow for physician-assisted suicide in end-of-life situations. Now, time is running out for the bill to be signed by the governor.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has until the end of the year to decide whether to sign or veto the bill.
Similar legislation has been passed in 11 states and Washington D.C., and this is the first year after several attempts that the bill has reached the governor's desk in New York.
Now, advocates for physician-assisted suicide are making a final push to get Hochul to sign.
"We know the clock is ticking," said Corrine Carey from Compassion and Choices, the group lobbying for the MAID Act. "The clock moves differently for people that are dying. Every day that goes by when the bill is not signed is another day where people don't have the peace of mind knowing they can have a gentle death."
Critics of the bill, including disability rights advocates, have argued the bill sends a wrong message to many suffering from a variety of illnesses, and provides a slippery slope for access to expand over time as has been seen in countries such as Canada.
Reports out of Albany says the bill's lack of a waiting period is one of the things keeping Hochul from signing the bill. Other states have had mandatory waiting periods ranging from 7-to-30 days.
Carey doesn't see that as an issue.
"When people reach the decision to request Medical Aid in Dying, they've been deliberating about it for a long time, and it takes an average of six weeks to make it through the process."