New York Is Facing a Slippery Slope With Medical Aid in Dying Bill

Christine Gauthier, a disabled Canadian veteran, says she was “completely shocked” when a government caseworker several years ago offered her medical aid in dying instead of basic disability support. As New York considers a similar path, her story serves as a stark warning. “I was really depressed because of what I have been through,” Ms. Gauthier tells The New York Sun. “You won’t give me the equipment I need to live but will let me die. It was surreal.”A former artillery expert who served during the Gulf War, Ms. Gauthier suffered irreversible spinal damage during military training in 1989. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries and competing in the 2016 Paralympics and Invictus Games, she says she’s spent the past several years fighting for a wheelchair ramp and other basic accommodations.Many worry that cases like Ms. Gauthier’s could become more common in the United States if New York moves forward with proposed legislation to legalize medically assisted dying. Supporters and critics sharply disagree even on the language. Proponents refer to the practice as “medical aid in dying,” emphasizing that it applies only to mentally competent, terminally ill individuals with a prognosis of six months or less. Opponents, however, prefer the term “assisted suicide,” arguing that legalizing it risks normalizing death as a solution to suffering — especially in a broken healthcare system.New York’s Pending Bill New York’s Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act on June 9, but opponents — including Catholic leaders — are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to veto it. The measure passed narrowly in both chambers, with the Assembly approving it 81-67 and the Senate following suit along mostly party lines. Governor Hochul, a Catholic and social liberal, has not publicly stated her position on the legislation.The bill was introduced a decade ago by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Westchester Democrat, after witnessing her sister suffer through a painful death from cancer. She says the measure is about offering compassion and choice to terminally ill patients facing unbearable suffering. Two doctors must confirm the diagnosis and eligibility. Patients must sign a formal request in the presence of two adult witnesses who are not family members or financially connected to the patient. “The New York assisted suicide bill is wider than most assisted suicide laws because it does not have a waiting period and it does not have a residency requirement. The lack of a residency requirement fulfills the goal of the assisted suicide lobby that anyone in America can die by assisted suicide,” the executive director at the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schadenberg, tells the Sun. “And the no waiting period means that a person can have a same-day death.”Critics warn that once assisted death is legalized, eligibility often broadens beyond initial guardrails. “In states where assisted suicide is legal, the eligibility has expanded in practice — even without voters or lawmakers changing the laws,” director of the Patients Rights Action Fund, Jessica Rodgers, tells the Sun. Mr. Schadenberg added that in many cases, both the evaluating doctors and the second assessors are closely tied to pro-euthanasia organizations, weakening oversight. “There is no independent third party ensuring the law is being followed,” he said, highlighting that both eligibility and oversight are undermined, with many doctors involved in the process directly referred by pro-assisted suicide organizationsCanada’s ConundrumWhile New York’s proposed law includes more restrictions than Canada’s, critics often point north to highlight how safeguards can erode. Canada’s “medical assistance in dying” program was legalized in 2016 for adults with incurable conditions and was expanded in 2021 to include those without terminal illnesses. By 2023, more than 15,000 people died through MAID — accounting for roughly one in every 20 deaths in Canada. That’s five times higher than when the law was first enacted in 2016, raising concerns that the expansion of eligibility may be fueling the rise.Canada’s MAID law is now among the most permissive globally, and by 2027 it will include patients with mental illness as their sole condition — even in the absence of any physical disease. Most recipients cite severe pain, loss of dignity, or inability to enjoy life as primary reasons for ending their lives. Canadian media have also documented cases where people sought MAID due to poverty, lack of housing, or inadequate disability benefits.Pushback in New York Opponents of the bill often point to Canada as a cautionary example of the risks involved in legalizing assisted dying. Catholic leaders across New York condemned the state Legislature’s June 9 passage of the medical aid in dying bill, calling it a moral failure that undermines the sanctity of life. Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester urged Governor Hochul to veto the measure, warning in a letter that “when we subjectively determine when life begins and ends… life is no longer precious, but just another commodity in the business of living.” The Catholic Church firmly opposes suicide, calling it a violation of love for self, neighbor, and God.“These are doctors who support assisted suicide, and the second assessor is almost always receiving the referral from the assisted suicide group also. Further to that, once the prescription for the assisted suicide compounded lethal drug cocktail is written, the doctor is rarely present at the death,” he claimed. “Therefore, there is no way to prove that the person freely died by assisted suicide. There is no independent — third party — pre-approving or ensuring that the law is being followed.”Proponents in New YorkSupporters of New York’s assisted suicide bill argue that terminally ill patients in severe pain deserve the right to choose a dignified death. “It’s not so much about ending a person’s life, but shortening their death,” said a state senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, during the floor debate earlier this month. Campaign director for Compassion & Choices organization in New York, which advocates for end-of-life options, Corinne Carey, argues that “first and foremost, the use of the term medically assisted suicide’ instead of the official name of the bill and the practice, is misleading and inaccurate.”“Opponents use the term ‘assisted suicide’ in an attempt to discredit the legitimate practice of medical aid in dying,” she tells the Sun. Around the World The debate over assisted dying is not limited to North America. Globally, an increasing number of countries — including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and Austria — have legalized some form of medical aid in dying in the past decade, joining long-standing jurisdictions like the Netherlands, where both euthanasia and medically-assisted forms of death are permitted. In places like the Netherlands, studies show that those seeking assisted death for mental health reasons are often single women with depressive disorders, lower education levels, and a history of trauma, such as sexual abuse.“When comparing the suicide rate in the Netherlands to other European countries that have not legalized assisted death, you notice an increase in the suicide rate in the Netherlands and a decrease in the suicide rate in countries that have not legalized,” noted Mr. Schadenberg.Contrary to early hopes, legalizing assisted dying has reportedly not reduced overall suicide rates. A 2021 study in Oregon shows a 32 percent increase in the general suicide rate since legalization. European data point to similar trends — with countries like Belgium, after euthanasia legalization in 2002, reporting by 2016 the highest non-assisted suicide rate in women across Europe. In Switzerland, the female suicide rate, including assisted deaths, nearly doubled between 1998 and 2017. Assisted death has been legal since 1941, with statistics tracked since 1998.Ms. Carey, however, points to a different set of findings. “According to a recent study in the American Journal of Bioethics — Empirical Bioethics, a peer-reviewed academic journal, there is no evidence that suicide rates have increased in states that have adopted medical aid in dying laws,” she said. “Far too many terminally ill New Yorkers have taken their own lives when they feel that they have no legal option to end unbearable suffering. The (legal) option allows each individual to live their lives, and then die, in a way consistent with their faith and values.”Meanwhile, at least one British citizen now travels to Switzerland each week for an assisted death — a sixfold increase since 2005.Legalities Within the United States Medical aid in dying is currently legal in 10 United States jurisdictions — nine states including Oregon, California, and New Jersey, plus the District of Columbia — through legislative action or voter referenda. Montana also permits the practice following a 2009 state Supreme Court ruling. Delaware became the latest law to pass in May 2025, though it has not yet taken effect. If Governor Hochul signs New York’s proposed bill, the Empire State would become the 12th jurisdiction to legalize medically-induced death — part of a broader national trend toward legalization.Lawmakers in 19 states — including Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois — are considering similar legislation. Public sentiment has shifted strongly in favor of such measures. A 2024 Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans support allowing doctors to end a terminally ill patient’s life painlessly if requested by the patient and their family.Ms. Carey also argues that the “adoption of a medical aid in dying law in New York does not mean there is a risk for expansion in New York.”“The core eligibility criteria for medical aid in dying has remained the same since Oregon authorized the first medical aid in dying law more than 30 years ago,” she observed. “New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, and every other state law that authorizes the practice, mirrors the core provisions of Oregon’s law.”Seeking Alternatives The American Medical Association opposes physician-assisted death, emphasizing instead the importance of expanding access to high-quality palliative and hospice care. Yet Ms. Carey underscored that “all five of New York’s major medical associations support the state’s Medical Aid in Dying Act and have called for its passage.”“In addition, the state’s Hospice & Palliative Care Association has a neutral position on the bill,” she continued. Not everyone agrees with that stance, and critics argue that the legislation fundamentally alters the doctor-patient relationship and risks normalizing death as a solution to suffering. “The concept that assisted suicide is about compassion or autonomy is simply not true. These laws work by giving doctors the right in law to be involved with causing your death. That isn’t autonomy,” said Mr. Schadenberg. “Once it is decided that death can be an answer to a difficult human condition, then it becomes discriminatory to deny it to others in a similar condition. The reality is that people can die a peaceful death without being killed. This should be the focus because this is what people want.”For the likes of Ms. Gauthier, however, basic needs to get through daily life would be a long-awaited step in the right direction. “Things are not really moving; I am back to not being able to use the elevator. I have to deal with that on top of the medical and emotional effects of it all,” she added. “I am still waiting for the surgeries. I am still isolated, so I haven’t been able to hear from anyone much.”

New York Is Facing a Slippery Slope With Medical Aid in Dying Bill

New York Is Facing a Slippery Slope With Medical Aid in Dying Bill

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