(The Center Square) – New York religious leaders are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto a bill that would authorize physicians in the state to administer lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients.
Legislation approved by the state Assembly and Senate would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults who have been given a prognosis of six months or less to live the ability to request medication to end their lives.
“This is about personal autonomy, this is about liberty, this is about exercising one’s own freedom to control one’s body,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat and primary sponsor of the bill
But faith groups say the Democratic-led proposal lacks critical safeguards over how doctors approve patients looking to get a prescription for a lethal cocktail of drugs to end their life.
The New York State Catholic Conference called the bill’s final passage in the state Legislature a “dark day” for New York and called on Hochul to reject the proposal.
“For the first time in its history, New York is on the verge of authorizing doctors to help their patients commit suicide,” Dennis Poust, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “Make no mistake – this is only the beginning, and the only person standing between New York and the assisted suicide nightmare unfolding in Canada is Governor Hochul.”
The plan is also opposed by Agudath of Israel, a leading Orthodox Jewish organization, which says the proposal would send a “dangerous and destructive message” to New Yorkers. It’s also urging Hochul to veto the bill.
“Society legalizing coordinated killing, even in the difficult situation where the victim is in pain, erodes that value, and tells the vulnerable among us that their lives don’t matter,” the group said in a statement. “Taking one’s own life is a tragedy of untold proportion. Allowing physicians – whose calling is to heal – to serve as active accomplices in bringing about this tragedy of taking human life is a profound moral and practical misstep.”
Backers of the proposal said the legislation includes safeguards, including a requirement that patients make verbal requests for a doctor’s intervention and get a written request signed by two witnesses. At least two physicians would need to certify that the patient seeking access to lethal medicine is suffering from an incurable, irreversible condition.
Health care insurers would be banned from recommending or providing information on medical aid in dying to patients, including alongside denial of coverage notices for other treatments, under the proposal. The plan would also shield physicians and patients from any legal ramifications from medical aid-in-dying procedures.
Republicans lawmakers opposed the bill, with some voicing concerns that legalizing physician-assisted suicide would encourage suicide among those suffering from depression and other mental health issues. Others said the state should focus on improving other areas of health care, such as palliative services.
“New York should lead the nation – in real end-of-life care,” Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Tonawanda Republican, posted on social media. “We’re dead last in palliative care access. That’s what we should fix – not hand out poison and call it compassion. I proudly voted no on this legislation.”
Medical aid-in-dying is already permitted in 10 states, including New Jersey, Vermont and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., according to the group Compassionate Choices.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1997 left the issue largely up to states. Thirty-seven states have since banned the practice, either at the ballot box or by legislative act.
