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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to sign a measure to legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under an agreement reached with state legislative leaders.
The governor intends to sign the bill next year after working to add a series of “guardrails,” she wrote in an Albany Times-Union op-ed announcing her plans. The measure, which state lawmakers approved during their regulatory session earlier this year, will go into effect six months after it is signed.
Hochul, a Catholic, said she listened to New Yorkers experiencing “pain and suffering,” as well as their children, while also listening to “members of many faiths who believe that intentionally shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.”
“I learned that God is merciful and merciful, and we should be too,” she wrote. “This includes allowing a compassionate option for those facing the unthinkable and seeking comfort in their final months in this life.”
New Jersey’s medically assisted suicide law only covers state residents, and applies appellate court rules
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to sign a measure to legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. (Julia Nickinson, AP File/Photo)
New York will join a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., in adopting laws allowing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill adults, including Delaware and Illinois, which each approved legislation this year that will take effect in 2026.
Several other countries, including Canada, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia and Colombia, have also legalized so-called death with dignity.
New York’s bill, called the Medical Assistance in Dying Act, requires a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six months to submit a written request for life-ending medications. The application must be signed by two witnesses to ensure that the patient is not subjected to coercion, and the application requires the approval of the patient’s treating physician and the consulting physician.
The bill’s sponsors and legislative leaders agreed to add provisions requiring a doctor to confirm that a person “indeed has less than six months to live,” along with confirmation from a psychologist or psychiatrist that the patient is capable of making the decision without being subject to coercion.
“The Medical Assistance in Dying Act would give terminally ill New Yorkers the right to spend their final days not under sterile hospital lights but with sunlight streaming through their bedroom window,” Hochul wrote.
She added: “The right to spend their final days not hearing the hum of hospital machines, but instead hearing their grandchildren’s laughter echoing in the next room. The right to tell their families that they love them and to be able to hear those precious words in return.”
This measure will enter into force six months after its signing. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)
Hochul said the bill would include a mandatory five-day waiting period as well as a written and recorded oral request “to confirm the existence of free will.” Outpatient facilities associated with faith-based hospitals may choose not to offer medically assisted suicide.
The governor also said she wants the bill to apply only to New Yorkers.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that a similar law in New Jersey covers only state residents and that people from other jurisdictions cannot seek medical assistance in dying in the Garden State.
“Death brings good things to an end, but rarely well,” U.S. Circuit Judge Stefanos Bibas wrote in his opinion. “Many terminally ill patients face a grim reality: imminent and painful death. Some may wish to avoid that suffering by seeking a doctor’s help to end their lives. New Jersey allows its residents to make that choice – but only for its residents.”
Hochul said Wednesday that supporting New York’s bill was one of the most difficult decisions she has made as governor.
Delaware’s assisted suicide bill has been signed into law, making it the 11th state to have such a law
The governor said she wants the bill to apply only to New Yorkers. (AP Photo/Hans Bennink)
“Who am I to deny you or someone you love what they are begging for at the end of their lives?” She said. “I couldn’t do it anymore.”
The legislation was first introduced in 2016 but failed to gain approval for years as religious groups such as the New York State Catholic Conference sought to block the measure, arguing that it would devalue human life and undermine the physician’s role as healer.
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the bishops of New York said in a statement after Hochul’s announcement that her support for the bill “suggests that our government is abandoning its most vulnerable citizens, telling sick or disabled people that suicide in their condition is not only acceptable, but encouraged by our elected leaders.”
But supporters of the legislation stressed that it would reduce the suffering of people with chronic diseases and allow them to die on their own terms.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.