NYS Legislature signs off on revised 'aid in dying' law

ALBANY — State legislators signed off on negotiated amendments to the state’s Medical Aid in Dying bill on Wednesday, clearing the way for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.

The state Assembly approved the amendments 85-60, with the state Senate following hours later 34-28.

The practice will allow a "mentally competent, terminally ill adult," age 18 or older, who has a prognosis of six months or less to live, to request self-administered, life-ending medication from a physician.

During the debate in the state Assembly, Republicans expressed practical and moral opposition, including concerns about patients potentially being coerced into participating in medical aid in dying.

"I think we need to work to make the hospice and palliative system better," said Republican Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, who represents parts of Saratoga, Schenectady, and Fulton counties.

Democratic Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who sponsored the initial bill that authorized Medical Aid in Dying, said she believes it gives terminally ill patients the option to have dignity and compassion at the end of their lives.

She noted that studies of patients in other states that allow the practice found not every patient who was prescribed the fatal dose of medication followed through.

New York will be the 13th state with a law that supporters call medical aid in dying and opponents call physician-assisted suicide.

The legislation will provide certain protections and immunities for the prescribing health care providers, for example, for not resuscitating qualified patients who have self-administered the medication.

The law will require a mandatory five-day waiting period to provide patients with the chance to change their minds, and both a written and recorded oral statement that patients are making the request of their own free will. In addition, anyone who might financially benefit from the patient’s death is disqualified from being a witness or interpreter.

The initial evaluation of a patient by a physician must be made in person, and patients also will need to submit to a mandatory mental health evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Hochul announced her decision to sign the bill, with changes, in an op-ed piece published in December. At the time, she wrote that her approval hinged on changes to include further precautions and limitations to address concerns that vulnerable populations, including those with disabilities and the elderly, might be pressured into a decision they would not have made on their own.

The bill will take effect in six months to allow the state Department of Health to finalize its regulations.