Several bills on death with dignity were proposed in the last legislative session in New York. They did not move forward at that time, but legislation will be submitted again in the next session. These bills are similar to the law that has been in effect in Oregon since 1997, and would allow a terminally ill, mentally competent adult, with a prognosis of six month or less to live, the option to request a prescription for life-ending medication that would be self-administered in order to reduce suffering and to bring about a peaceful and humane death.
Common features:
A) Allow only a qualified, terminally ill adult to request and obtain a prescription from his physician for medication that the patient can self-administer to hasten death.
B) Require that two physicians confirm that the patient’s prognosis is terminal.
C) Require two witnesses to attest that the request is voluntary, and two doctors to attest that the patient is mentally competent to make the request and is acting on his own will.
C) Allow medical providers to decline to fulfill the patient’s request, and protects them from civil or criminal liability and from professional disciplinary action, if they do fulfill it. Participation by doctors and pharmacists is fully voluntary.
D) Safeguard against any coercion of patients by establishing felony penalties for coercing or forging a request; honors a patient’s right to rescind the request at any time.
E) Stipulate that any action taken in accordance with the bill does not constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing or homicide under any criminal law of this state. The death certificate of an eligible adult who accesses aid in dying will indicate the terminal illness as the cause of death, not the aid-in-dying medication.
A video interview with Dr. David Pratt presents a physician’s explanation of, and support for, the proposed New York Medical Aid in Dying Act in a Q & A format. This streaming video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Xqk0whyqA&feature=youtu.be
For the most up-to-date summary and a link to each of the specific bills, please see the Death with Dignity National Center website at http://www.deathwithdignity.org/advocates/national. Scroll down to the New York summary.