New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill allowing medical aid in dying for residents diagnosed with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than six months. The law includes safeguards to prevent coercion and specifies that no healthcare professional or religiously affiliated medical facility will be required to provide the service.
A mandatory five-day waiting period will apply between the writing and dispensing of a prescription, and mental health evaluations will be required for patients seeking the aid. The option is limited to New York residents.
Hochul said the state will protect New Yorkers’ freedoms and bodily autonomy, including the right for the terminally ill to end their lives peacefully and with dignity. In 2017, New York’s Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit that had argued mentally competent, terminally ill patients had a constitutional right to receive prescriptions for lethal medication, ruling doctor-assisted suicide was then illegal under state law.
With the new law, New York joins 12 other U.S. states and the District of Columbia that permit medical aid in dying; Oregon was the first state to legalize the practice in 1994. Advocacy groups, including End of Life Choices New York, welcomed the move. Executive director Mandi Zucker called the law a “mile marker” toward fairness, choice, peace, and dignity, and said the organization plans a statewide education campaign over the next six months.
