A federal lawsuit has been filed by disability rights organizations to block New York’s Medical Aid in Dying law, which is set to take effect on August 5. The plaintiffs argue that the law illegally pushes vulnerable New Yorkers towards suicide instead of providing them with support and medical care. The law allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with under six months to live to request medication to end their lives. The plaintiffs claim that the law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the U.S. Constitution, and that it creates an unfair medical system<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) \u2014 Disability rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit in New York on Thursday to block the Medical Aid in Dying law, which is supposed to take effect on August 5. In the lawsuit, which you can read at the bottom of this story, the plaintiffs argued that the law illegally pushes vulnerable New Yorkers toward suicide instead of giving them support and medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the legislation in February to let mentally capable, terminally ill adults with under six months to live request medication to end their lives. Her office declined to address the lawsuit\u2019s specific legal claims Thursday but defended the statute\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile we cannot comment on any pending litigation, the historic legislation allows terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live to make a voluntary, informed decision to request medication for medical aid in dying,\u201d said a Hochul spokesperson on Thursday. \u201cIt reflects years of thoughtful planning and consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The End Assisted Suicide coalition filed the civil rights complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn against Hochul, the Department of Health, the Office of Mental Health, and the state Board for Medicine. They asked the judge to stop the state from enforcing the law, claiming it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Affordable Care Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the lawsuit and a press release, the advocates said that New York is creating an unfair medical system, and that doctors frequently misdiagnose patients and give inaccurate timelines for death. They alleged that the state is creating a \u201ctwo-tiered medical system\u201d that deprives the disabled of life-saving interventions while offering standard, effective, life-saving suicide prevention treatment to the able-bodied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matt Valli\u00e8re from the Institute for Patients\u2019 Rights said that disabled people \u201care offered death instead of the support programs everyone else gets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coalition includes the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, the Institute for Patients\u2019 Rights, Not Dead Yet, and the United Spinal Association. Individual disabled citizens also joined the lawsuit, including Rochester residents Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez, who has a spinal cord injury and relies on daily medical assistance, and Anita Cameron, who has multiple degenerative disabilities and loss of vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both claimed that the law could inspire doctors to classify them as terminally ill and eligible for the life-ending drugs should they lose their current supports. According to Hern\u00e1ndez, doctors diagnosed his terminally ill mother with only six months left to live because of cancer. But instead, she received adequate medical treatment that let her survive for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf she had chosen to end her life, I would have missed out on 13 years of goodnight kisses, home-cooked meals, and the opportunity to be raised by a mother who made me the strong man I am,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plaintiffs claim that the law needs more safety measures. While it requires a mental health professional to evaluate a patient\u2019s decision-making ability, the law doesn\u2019t require treating underlying depression or thoughts of suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plaintiffs also outlined an apparent financial incentive. \u201cWhen states legalize assisted suicide while simultaneously cutting home care and community-based services, they send a dangerous message: that death is a solution for disability and lack of support,\u201d said Sharon Shapiro from the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some supporters of the law rejected those claims on Thursday, arguing that it is voluntary and protects patients\u2019 autonomy. Veronica Darling from the advocacy group Compassion and Choices said the law includes language to make sure that disability alone would neither qualify nor disqualify someone from access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese laws are not about discrimination, they are about compassion, dignity, and respecting the healthcare choices of terminally ill adults when it matters most,\u201d she said, offering the statistic that 79% of Americans with disabilities support medical aid in dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other supporters of the law, like NYSDOH Commissioner Dr. James McDonald, have said that it represents a kindness for those who are suffering. In a June 3 press release, he said, \u201cMedical aid in dying addresses deeply personal decisions that may arise for individuals facing a terminal illness and their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the professional evaluation of a patient\u2019s decision-making, the law has other requirements meant to prevent misuse. Patients have to make a recorded verbal request and a signed written request witnessed by two neutral witnesses. And two different doctors have to confirm that the illness is terminal. Patients also have to wait five days before receiving the medication\u2014though doctors can prescribe the drugs on the same day, if they determine that the patient has under five days to live\u2014and administer the drug themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Should the law take effect, pharmacists, doctors, and other healthcare providers wouldn\u2019t face penalties for honoring a request in good faith, nor would they be disciplined for refusing to participate. But when refusing, they\u2019ll have to transfer the patient to another provider. And anyone who might benefit financially from the patient\u2019s death can\u2019t bear witness to their written request for lethal drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DOH opened a public comment period on June 3 for rules regulating how doctors report these life-ending prescriptions. Hochul\u2019s office said those regulations will usher in the law in a thoughtful and responsible way. DOH will stop accepting feedback on August 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, New York\u2019s highest court ruled in \u201cMyers v. Schneiderman\u201d that mentally competent, terminally ill residents have no constitutional right to a lethal prescription. But they nonetheless paved the way for Medical Aid in Dying, unanimously acknowledging that lawmakers could create a legal, valid exemption to the penal code through legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislation passed after over a decade of advocacy. Democratic Assemblymember Amy Paulin sponsored the bill in the Assembly, motivating by her sister\u2019s death from ovarian cancer. Democratic State Senators Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Brad Hoylman-Sigal\u2014now the Manhattan Borough presidnet\u2014led the effort in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coalition announced the federal lawsuit during a disability community forum protesting assisted suicide outside the U.N. in Manhattan on Thursday. It\u2019s the last day of the 19th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n