This year we got closer than ever to passing my Medical Aid in Dying bill with State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. 

Medical aid in dying allows a terminally ill, mentally capable adult with six months or less to live to request a prescription from their doctor for medication they can take to die peacefully when their suffering becomes too great to bear. Ten states, including New Jersey, Vermont and Maine, as well as Washington, D.C., have authorized medical aid in dying. 

We know that the vast majority of New Yorkers want to see medical aid in dying legalized in our state. This year many legislators became co-sponsors of the bill and brought us to the cusp of bringing it to a vote. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie indicated his support for the bill and we had the needed votes in the Assembly. Unfortunately, we fell short of the needed votes in the Senate. 

This year the Medical Society of the State of New York, the NYS Bar Association, the NYS Academy of Family Physicians, and the NYS Council of Churches all came out in support of the bill.

The urgency to pass this bill is clear as each year strong advocates for the bill continue to die from terminal illnesses. We could have prevented their suffering and provided them with the peaceful, dignified death they sought.

I’ll keep fighting for this bill next year. I’m hopeful that we’ll add more legislators to back the bill, including new legislators that join us after this year’s election.

This bill remains my top priority and I will not give up until it is passed.