New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation allowing medical aid in dying for state residents diagnosed with a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than six months to live. The law establishes safeguards intended to prevent coercion and protects the right of medical providers and religiously affiliated facilities to decline participation.
Under the new rules, a prescription for a lethal medication must be written and then held for a mandatory five-day waiting period before it can be dispensed. Patients seeking the option are required to undergo mental health evaluations as part of the approval process. The law applies only to New York residents.
Hochul said the state will safeguard New Yorkers’ freedoms and bodily autonomy, including “the right for the terminally ill to end their lives peacefully and with dignity.” The move reverses the legal landscape in New York since a 2017 Court of Appeals decision had rejected a claim that mentally competent, terminally ill patients had a constitutional right to receive prescriptions for lethal medication, finding assisted suicide was then illegal under state law.
With this enactment, New York joins 12 other 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 supporting the change, including End of Life Choices New York, praised the bill. Executive director Mandi Zucker described the law as a “mile marker” toward fairness, choice, peace, and dignity and said the organization will run a statewide education campaign over the next six months to inform patients, families, and providers about the new option.
