Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - For the first time in 10 years, the Medical Aid in Dying Act may be headed to the desk of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The bill has passed the Assembly and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she believes she has the votes to pass the bill in the State Senate.
"I think we're at a place where there's a recognition that New Yorkers
deserve all of the options that our neighbors in Vermont and New Jersey
and now Delaware have for a peaceful death," said Corinne Carey, Senior
Campaign Director with Compassion and Choices told WBEN.
State lawmakers are in the last days of finalizing the budget before the session ends.
"This is not a form of suicide," explained Carey. "The people who want to have some control over what the end of their life looks like, are not people who want to die. They do everything they can to stay alive. But when they become terminally ill with an illness that is incurable and irreversible, and have been given a six month prognosis to live, they can say to their doctor that they'd
like medication that they can take, at a time of their choosing, with the people that they love, and die a peaceful, dignified death."
The Medical Aid in Dying Act provides mentally competent, terminally ill adults who have been given a prognosis of six months or less to live the ability to request medication from their treating physician for medical aid in dying.
The legislation requires at least two physicians to determine that the patient has the capacity to make an informed decision regarding this request.
Carey said the bill has been amended several times over the past decade to strengthen its safeguards.
"The things that is different this year is that the organizations that are looking out for people's rights have all coalesced around this bill. The League of Women Voters, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the statewide Senior Action Council, as well as professional medical group. The State Senate is poised to act on this bill which will then go to Governor Hochul for her signature, making New York the 12th state to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Law in this country.
With suicide the 3rd leading cause of death in this country, between 15 - 29 year olds, we asked Carey if that's leading to more acceptance?
"When someone is terminally ill, and suffering interminably, they too often turn to violent means to take their own lives. They do so in isolation. They try to insulate their families from the decision and they do it without consultation from a medical provider."
She added, the bill in Albany would give people the option of a peaceful death from a decision made in concert with their family and provider, preventing traumatic suicides from happening.