New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has made New York the 13th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide by signing the Medical Aid in Dying Act. The reasons that people with disabilities oppose assisted suicide are addressed in the new law. The safeguards built into the legislation—designed to ensure patient autonomy, prevent coercion, and confirm a truly terminal condition—are intended to respond to concerns from the disability community. Time will tell whether these measures are adequate.
Several disability groups including United Spinal Association, where, before retiring, I was General Counsel, as well as Not Dead Yet, and Patients’ Rights Action Fund have actively opposed physician-assisted suicide statutes proposed by state legislatures and sued in California and Colorado to declare them discriminatory on the basis of disability. Some religious organizations oppose assisted suicide as well.
This is the first time it will be lawful for a physician in New York to prescribe medication intended to kill a patient.
The Safeguards – Will they be adequate to protect people with disabilities?
The patient must be determined to be terminally ill, i.e., have less than six months to live. This determination must be made, in person, by a physician. If a physician violates any of the provisions of the law, or the implementing State Health Department regulations, to be completed by September 2026, that doctor can be charged with professional misconduct pursuant to State Education Law.
An oral request by the patient for lethal medication must be witnessed by two people and recorded by video or audio. The witnesses cannot be people who would stand to benefit financially from the death of the person requesting medication.
There must be a mandatory five-day waiting period between when a prescription is written and when it is filled.
There is a mandatory mental health evaluation required by a psychiatrist or psychologist.
Only New York residents can get the lethal prescriptions which will become available to terminally ill people.
The American Medical Association opposes physician-assisted suicide. The organization feels that it fundamentally changes the doctor-patient relationship. Sedation of the suffering is legal in all 50 states.
The fear is that doctors who underestimate the quality of life of people living with disabilities will help those who are depressed to kill themselves and wink an eye at the definition of “terminal.” If a substantially impaired person requests lethal medication, a medical professional’s bias about living with a disability may color the “terminal” determination. This is what the plaintiffs are claiming in the California litigation.
No opponents of assisted suicide want to protract suffering. However, witnessing exhausted family caregivers and using family resources to stay alive can make those who need personal care feel they are diminishing the quality of life of those around them. They may see no way out except suicide. Counselling and suicide diversion programs must be available to those requesting assisted suicide if they are not terminal. Adequate homecare must be available, as well.
Physician-assisted suicide, now referred to in New York as Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), is coming. While NY has the most safeguards to protect people with disabilities of any of the thirteen states and the District of Columbia which have legalized the practice, homecare shortages, patients’ families and professional behavior in response to the new law have yet to be evaluated.
Canada’s MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) law allows people who have not been rehabilitated to their own satisfaction to request lethal medication, i.e., Canada calls it medical aid in dying even though patients just have to be unsatisfied with the extent of their own rehabilitation to request poison from a doctor. Physician-assisted suicide legalization sits atop a slippery slope of quality-of-life decisions made by depressed people with disabilities, their families and doctors.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.