New York joins the list of states that allow assisted death; the total number of states is 12

New York.- New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature announced this Wednesday that they reached an agreement that will add this state to the list of 12 jurisdictions in the United States where assisted death is permitted. Hochul announced this Wednesday that she will sign into law the controversial bill, presented by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and approved last April and June, respectively. The new law will take effect six months after it is signed by Hochul to allow the Department of Health to implement the regulations required to put it into effect. It will also ensure that healthcare facilities can adequately prepare and train staff to comply with it. With this action, a long journey of the proposal that began its journey in the Senate and Assembly of the state in 2016 comes to an end, gaining supporters little by little, including the support of 72% of New Yorkers, according to a 2024 poll commissioned by ‘Death with Dignity’.

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“There is a lot of religious conflict in me. We have always talked about these issues, but I have also realized that it is not about me, but about 20 million New Yorkers,” the Democrat stated.

Hochul has considered that the law allows people with terminal illnesses and a prognosis of less than six months of life “to receive medical assistance to accelerate the inevitable”. “After careful deliberation, I decided to support the legalization of medical assistance in dying in very specific circumstances and with significant protections included in the law to ensure that it is not misused or broadly applied,” he explained. The new project indicates, after the agreement with the legislature, that there will be a mandatory waiting period of 5 days between the issuance of a prescription and its dispensing. The patient’s oral request for medical assistance to die must be recorded on video or audio. It will also limit the availability of medical aid to die to New York residents and require that the patient’s initial evaluation by a physician be in person. Will allow religiously oriented home hospice providers the option to assist the patient to die and will ensure that the violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct.