Faced with a terminal diagnosis, New Yorkers deserve the full range of options for care at the end of life, including medical aid in dying. Medical aid in dying allows terminally ill adults to get a prescription they can take to end their life peacefully.

New Yorkers should be free to choose how they live – and when the time comes, how they die. This private, personal decision should belong to all of us – free from government interference.

Medical aid in dying is needed because:

• Too many New Yorkers suffer needlessly at the end of life;
• Too many New Yorkers endure unrelenting pain at the end of life;
• Too many New Yorkers turn to violent means at the end of life when medical aid could help them die peacefully; and
• Too many New Yorkers feel they have little control over their own life (and death) when a terminal illness has taken over.
  

On July 6, 2023, Campaign Director Corinne Carey delivered a presentation to the ALS Association's Greater New York chapter about medical aid in dying. The group had requested more information after Carey presented at their recent annual conference.

On January 12, 2023, the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act ( A 995A) was reintroduced by Assemblyperson Amy Paulin with 50 sponsors. A short time later, a Senate bill ( SB 2445A) was introduced by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal with 12 additional co-sponsors. 

The Medical Aid in Dying Act was amended on May 25, 2023 in both the Assembly (A995A)  and the Senate (SB 2445A). The amendments do not alter the core safeguards of the bill. 

The New York Alliance for Medical Aid in Dying is a coalition combining the resources of Compassion & Choices, Death with Dignity National Center, The Completed Life Initiative, End of Life Choices New York and Death with Dignity–Albany, working together to authorize medical aid in dying in New York State.

Check out what else is happening in the New York movement to expand and protect end-of-life care options.