ALBANY, NY (WENY)--AS SESSION APPROACHES ITS END, LAWMAKERS AND ADVOCATES CONTINUE TO RALLY FOR A BILL TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL AID IN DYING—LEGISLATION THAT HAS FAILED TO PASS IN NEW YORK FOR NEARLY A DECADE.  

SOME LAWMAKERS SAID THEY SEE THE BILL GAINING MOMENTUM, WITH GROWING SUPPORT FROM ADVOCATES AND SPONSORS IN THE LEGISLATURE.  

IT WAS RECENTLY AMENDED IN BOTH HOUSES AND CURRENTLY SITS IN THE HEALTH COMMITTEE.  

SOME ADVOCATES SAID IN THE NINE AND A HALF YEARS THEY HAVE BEEN ADVOCATING FOR THIS BILL THEY HAVE SEEN 26 OF THEIR RALLYING FRIENDS PASS AWAY IN PAIN.  

“I’m working with two young women who are not doing well right now, both of them have end stage cancer and I feel the weight of responsibility as a leader of this campaign to get this bill done this year so that those two women don’t have to suffer the way the other twenty-six advocates did,” said Corinne Carey, campaign director for Compassion & Choices.

THE legislation WOULD ALLOW TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS WITH A DIAGNOSIS OF SIX MONTHS OR LESS TO LIVE TO REQUEST MEDICATION TO DIE.  

AND SOME ADVOCATES SAid THEY HAVE SEEN FIRSTHAND HOW THIS LEGISLATION CAN HELP PEOPLE FACING DEATH. 

“It’s a matter of contrast between seeing really horrible deaths and seeing the really gentle peaceful way my mom got to experience end of life,” said Myra Shulman, an advocate and Ithaca resident.

SHULMAN SAid HER MOTHER, WHO DIED OF INCURABLE COLON CANCER IN 2017, WAS ABLE TO DIE IN HER BED, IN HER HOUSE WITH HER FAMILY AROUND HER BECAUSE SHE LIVED IN CALIFORNIA—A STATE WHERE MEDICAL AID IN DYING IS LEGAL.  

IF PASSED THIS SESSION, NEW YORK WOULD BE THE ELEVENTH STATE ALONG WITH THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO MAKE MEDICAL AID IN DYING LEGAL.