NYS Senate approves aid in dying bill
ALBANY — It has been more than nine years since backers of a controversial end-of-life bill proposed legislation. Just 12 months ago, the measure had nowhere near a majority of support from state legislators.
Monday night, the state Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that could make New York the 12th state to approve a statute that supporters call medical aid in dying and opponents call physician-assisted suicide.
Largely along party lines, the Democratic-led chamber passed the bill, formally known as "Medical Aid in Dying," 35-27, after a debate that ran nearly three hours. The action means it now will be up to Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign or veto the bill by year's end, and it marks the culmination of a turnaround in how the bill has been viewed over the past decade.
Several factors turned opposition to support over time, State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) said: movement in the national conversation, early action by the State Assembly to pass the measure, focus on the Senate and the "sweat equity" of activists who have visited the state Capitol for nearly a decade.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The state Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that could make New York the 12th state to approve a statute that supporters call medical aid in dying and opponents call physician-assisted suicide.
- Largely along party lines, the Democratic-led chamber passed the bill, formally known as "Medical Aid in Dying," 35-27, after a debate that ran nearly three hours.
- The action means it now will be up to Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign or veto the bill by year's end, and it marks the culmination of a turnaround in how the bill has been viewed over the past decade.
"Do not underestimate the power of a single story shared with a legislator," Hoylman-Sigal said at a news conference Monday ahead of the vote, stressing the, at times, one-on-one lobbying effort by activists. "The discussions were profound and moving."
Twelve months ago, he said, perhaps 20 of the 63 members of the state Senate supported the bill.
The bill would allow a "mentally competent, terminally ill adult," age 18 or older, who has a prognosis of six months or less to live, to request self-administered, life-ending medication from a physician. The measure also would provide certain protections and immunities for the prescribing health care providers, for example, for not resuscitating qualified patients who have self-administered the mediation.
The New York State Catholic Conference, the most visible opposition lobby on the bill, lined the Senate hallways Monday to urge the vote — while acknowledging the vote was set. Now, they will shift to lobbying Hochul.
"All our hope lies with the governor," Dennis Poust, the conference's executive director, told Newsday.
Hochul, a Democrat, has not given any indication about signing or vetoing the bill..
Republicans said the bill leaves too many details murky about process and raises questions about what conditions qualify a terminally ill person to make the choice.
"My colleagues who don’t believe they’re opening the door" to possible "disastrous outcomes here are deluding themselves," State Sen. Jake Ashby, a Capital Region Republican, said Monday. "Advocates will work to expand this program through the judiciary until it’s unrecognizable. We don’t have to go down this road."
The Democratic-led State Assembly approved the bill in what would be considered a narrow vote in Albany, 81-67, on April 29. That put pressure on the Senate and gave supporters time to have frequent discussions with undecided legislators, Hoylman-Sigal said.
Asked whether the governor will sign the bill, the senator said: "We've had informal conversations, but nothing I’m prepared to share now. But I’m hopeful."
Debate on bill didn't begin till nearly 6:30 p.m. with Republicans requesting the maximum two-hour debate time before any votes were cast.
During the debate, several Republicans sought to poke holes in the safety and oversight measures included in the legislation.
State Sen. Steven Rhoads (R-Bellmore) pointed out that the bill requires a physician to vouch that a patient has the "mental capacity" to request medical aid in dying but not conduct a psychiatric evaluation.
"This bill is poorly crafted. It leaves so many unanswered questions," Rhoads said. "It contains insufficient regulations to ensure we're not contributing to a culture of suicide."
State Sen. Mark Walczyk (R-Watertown) questioned why New York laws in some instances allow someone up to 25 years old to qualify for summer youth employment programs or be treated differently in some criminal cases, but this bill allows an 18-year-old to request aid in dying.
Hoylman-Sigal replied: "Eighteen is the age of maturity in New York" by legal standards.
He also said Republicans were overlooking the fact that the bill requires the person to be diagnosed with a terminal illness with less than six months to live.
"I think there is a bright line in the bill and I expect our physicians to follow it," Holyman-Sigal said.
State Sen. Rachel May (D-Syracuse) riveted senators with a personal story of her husband, only 32, who was dying of cancer in 1988. She said she had to "move heaven and earth" to get him morphine — against his doctors' wishes — to ease his pain.
"I know he died in peace. And I know in the last few weeks, he did not have the same anxiety and fear he had in the last few months," May said. "It's about having control of the end of your life."
HOW THEY VOTED
Here is how the Long Island delegation to the State Legislature voted on an end-of-life bill titled the "Medical Aid in Dying Act":
SENATE:
Yes: None
No: Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury), Patricia M. Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne), Monica R. Martinez (D-Brentwood), Jack M. Martins (R-Old Westbury), Mario R. Mattera (R-St. James), Anthony H. Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Steven D. Rhoads (R-Bellmore), Alexis Weik (R-Sayville).
Absent: Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue).
ASSEMBLY:
Yes: Noah Burroughs (D-Hempstead Village), Judy A. Griffin (D-Rockville Centre), Rebecca Kassay (D-Port Jefferson), Charles D. Lavine (D-Glen Cove), Kwani B. O'Pharrow (D-West Babylon), Philip R. Ramos (D-North Bay Shore), Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Sag Harbor), Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills)
No: Jake Blumencranz (R-Oyster Bay), Eric Ari Brown (R-Cedarhurst), Keith P. Brown (R-Northport), Joseph P. DeStefano (R-Medford), Michael A. Durso (R-Massapequa Park), Michael J. Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), Jarett C. Gandolfo (R-Sayville), Jodi A. Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow), David G. McDonough (R-Merrick), John K. Mikulin (R-Bethpage), Daniel J. Norber (R-Great Neck), Edward P. Ra (R-Garden City), Douglas M. Smith (R-Holbrook), Michaelle C. Solages (D-Elmont).
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