Legislation to allow medical aid in dying bill has been introduced in New York State every year since 2015 – and its backers say 2024 could be the year it finally passes. The bill would allow terminally ill people with only 6 months to live to use this option rather than endure unending pain. Proponents point out that numerous safeguards are key components of the bill, including requiring two physicians to approve the request. Assemblymember Amy Paulin, the bill’s sponsor, is convinced the reason it hasn't passed yet is fear of the unknown.
"Any new concept, and this is relatively new – new for New York, anyway – takes time. Death is certainly a very sensitive topic – it’s going to happen to all of us one day, and people avoid thinking about it. In this context, the concerns are forcing someone to do it, protections around it, all of those things."
Given that it's a complex and emotional issue, Paulin finds it’s taken quite some time to educate people about it. Opponents often refer to medical aid in dying as "assisted suicide," but the latest Siena College poll finds more than half of New Yorkers would support a medical aid-in-dying law.
Currently, 10 states and Washington, DC, have medical aid-in-dying laws. Corinne Carey with the nonprofit Compassion & Choices was concerned the pandemic might turn people off to this concept. Instead, she finds it got more people interested in pursuing what she calls a "good death."
"No death is a 'good death,' but certainly New Yorkers know that they don’t want a death where they are separated, isolated from loved ones and suffering at the end."
A substantial number of New York lawmakers cosigned the bill, with Carey noting it’s up to the state’s leadership to get this legislation across the finish line.