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New York Senate Poised to Vote on Medical Aid in Dying Act

A vote next week will test whether lawmakers approve new end-of-life options during debate over patient safeguards

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Overview

  • Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the Medical Aid in Dying Act is likely to reach the floor within the next week as session ends June 12.
  • The act would permit mentally competent adults with terminal prognoses of six months or less to self-administer physician-prescribed, life-ending medication.
  • Opponents have criticized the bill’s definitions of capacity, lack of mandatory counseling, and witness requirements and warned of pressure on vulnerable patients.
  • Advocates and patients, including sponsor Amy Paulin and Dr. Jeremy Boal, argue that it provides autonomy and reassurance for terminally ill individuals even if they do not use the medication.
  • A similar physician-assisted suicide measure in Illinois has cleared the House but stalled in the Senate, with ethicists citing Canada’s surge in assisted deaths as a cautionary example.