How Agudah Talks From Both Sides Of It's Mouth On Assisted Suicide

Diane Savino is the prime sponsor of the assisted suicide bill in the senate

this was retweeted by the Lefkowitz Leadership and offial agudah tweet account and A. D. Motzen a Agudah lobbiyist

Linda Rosenthal Sponsors Assisted Suicide Bill In New York

Linda Rosenthal Sponsor of NY's Assisted Suicide Bill

We will give you more information on this bill as it develops

This bill currently has no sponsors but that could and most likely will change soon, there is no companion bill in the senate yet but State Senator Brad Hoylman (who overlaps with her partly) has already pledged to sponsor a bill

Everyone in NY should call their assemblyman and tell them to oppose this bill.

Letter from Rabbi Moshe Soleveitchik on Massachusetts's trying to pass assisted suicide

Interview With New York State's Assisted Suicide Bill's Sponsor

A Q&A With NYS Sen. Brad Hoylman On Physician-Assisted Suicide And 'Death With Dignity'

One New York state senator is determined to permit terminally ill New Yorkers to “make their own choices about their end-of-life care” by introducing “death with dignity” legislation in the coming legislative session.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who represents parts of Manhattan, has plans to introduce a bill that he says will mirror similar laws in Oregon, Washington and Vermont. This doesn’t mean Hoylman isn’t open to changes.

“As we continue to craft the legislation, we are looking for ways to update and improve the law or deprove depending on your opinion of murder in a way that reflects "modern" best practices and makes the most sense for New York,” he said in an interview.

Even though Hoylman says he’s received “overwhelmingly positive feedback from legislators that means make sure you let your elected officials know before a bill is sponsored because afterwards it will be much harder to get them to remove their names and constituents alike in Greenwich Village,” not everybody is on board with his agenda.

Diane Coleman, president and CEO of Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group that opposes Hoylman’s bill, said New York City members of her organization have requested a meeting with Hoylman to urge him to withdraw his bill from his legislative agenda.

“Legalizing assisted suicide means that some people’s lives will be ended without their informed consent, through mistakes and abuse,” she said. “No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone.”

Here’s the full interview with Hoylman.

CJ Arlotta: Why are you introducing this bill?

Sen. Brad Hoylman: I was "inspired" watching and reading about Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old Californian with terminal brain cancer who moved to Oregon so that she could have control over the end of her life. A person who spoke in Trenton on Monday had the exact same type of brain cancer as Maynard, said that because of his shock he would have sought this course of action,  and here he is 2 years later I also have had loved ones — family and friends — with terminal diagnoses, and if they had the opportunity, some of them may have utilized aid in dying to ensure they had a measure of dignity in their final days. I believe New Yorkers who have a terminal illness and have less than six months to live should be able to make their own choices about their end-of-life care.

CJ: What are the chances of your bill becoming a law in New York State?

Hoylman: It’s too early to tell. Last week I began reaching out to my colleagues in the Senate asking them to co-sponsor death with dignity legislation I plan to introduce in the new year. So far, we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from legislators and constituents alike. This isn’t surprising; recent public polling shows 70 percent of Americans support aid in dying for the terminally ill.  of course when you poll with the words "assisted suicide" it looses much of it's support, many misread those words such as "aid when dying for the terminally ill"  

CJ: What does this bill take from death with dignity laws in Oregon, Washington and Vermont?

Hoylman: My bill will mirror the laws currently on the books in Oregon, Washington and Vermont to a large degree. However, as we continue to craft the legislation, we are looking for ways to update and improve the law in a way that reflects modern best practices and makes the most sense for New York.

CJ: Why isn’t the method used to end life mentioned in the bill?

Hoylman: As in other states with similar laws, the legislation would not mandate the usage of a particular medication; it would be up to the prescribing physician whose required to fill it? to select a medication. Through reporting requirements in other states, we know that doctors typically prescribe an oral dosage of barbiturate.

CJ: What would you say to those who oppose death with dignity laws?

Hoylman: I "respect" different moral and religious views on how best to deal with something as tragic as a terminal illness. But the point is that New Yorkers with a terminal diagnosis should have a choice on how their lives end, and currently they do not. This is a way to ensure some semblance of self-autonomy, dignity and control at the end of one’s life.

CJ: Why use the term “death with dignity” and not “physician-assisted suicide”?

Hoylman: When talking about individuals who have six months or less to live, it’s offensive to use the word “suicide,” as it connotes the idea that the person is choosing to end their life. “Aid in dying” laws are about giving terminally ill patients a choice in how they end their life to ensure some measure of dignity. more accurately who is against "death with dignity", being poisoned to death is not dignity,  using the word suicide lets people know what they are supporting

CJ: How does this bill put safeguards into place to protect terminally ill New Yorkers from potentially being abused?

Hoylman: Our bill will have strong protections in place to ensure that patients have the mental competency to make their own health care decisions just like the ones in Washington State that in 2012 led to only 3% of people being killed after a psychiatric examination?, and are counseled by their physicians on all of their end-of-life care options, including hospice, pain management, etc. A qualified patient must make a written and oral request to his or her attending physician. A second oral request must be made, no sooner than 15 days after the initial oral request, the attending physician must offer the patient opportunity to rescind the request and inform the patient that they may rescind the request for medication at any time and in any manner, without regard to their mental state. At least two doctors must determine that a patient meets the requirements to utilize aid in dying.

(Forbes) highlights our additions

Assisted Suicide Bill To Come To New York

New York senator proposes law to allow terminally ill to seek suicide with doctor support

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Brad Hoylman of Manhattan is seeking support for a bill that permits a doctor to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill adults who wish to take their own lives. Religious groups are fighting the proposal.

ALBANY — A Manhattan state senator wants to make New York the fifth state to allow assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

Democrat Brad Hoylman said his proposed law would permit doctors to prescribe lethal "medication" to terminally ill adults who want to take their own lives.

In a memo seeking co-sponsors call your state senator and tell them to oppose assisted "suicide" , Hoylman cited the case of Brittany Maynard, the terminally ill California woman who became the public face of the right-to-die movement when she moved to Oregon to end her life under that state's "Death With Dignity Act."

Maynard, who had an aggressive form of brain cancer, took her life on Nov. 1.

“This bill will give capable adults who have been given a terminal medical prognosis a measure of control over their end-of-life care options,” Hoylman wrote in his memo, which was obtained by the Daily News.

But the proposal faces fierce opposition from religious groups.

“We knew the fight was coming,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation, an evangelical Christian group.

The New York Catholic Conference will also strongly oppose the Hoylman bill, spokesman Dennis Poust said.

“We believe the so-called death with dignity movement is predicated on the false notion that there is something undignified about a natural death,” Poust said. “We don’t buy that.”

Poust said people who are diagnosed with months to live often defy expectations, and that the fear and depression felt by terminally ill patients can cloud their judgment.

The key provisions of Hoylman’s bill are modeled after the Oregon law.

Under his proposed Death With Dignity Act, a person seeking assisted suicide would have to be at least 18 and be given no more than six months to live some patients have been known to live almost  2 years after getting the poison.

The individual would have to make written and oral requests to a physician, and follow up with another verbal request at least 15 days later. The patient also must be deemed capable of making and communicating health care decisions, meaning advanced Alzheimer’s patients wouldn’t qualify.

In other states, a person is given a fast-acting lethal barbiturate. Hoylman’s proposal does not yet specify a method of suicide.

But doctors assisting in a suicide would be immune from criminal or civil liability if they acted in "good" faith.

In New York, people on both sides of the approaching debate agreed Tuesday that approval of Hoylman’s bill is unlikely in 2015.Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana, and New Jersey and California Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Connecticut have been debating the issue.

“But it gets the conversation going,” said George Eighmey, vice chairman of the Death with Dignity National Center.

In Oregon, 752 people have died under the Death With Dignity Act in the 16 years it’s been in palce, including 71 people in 2013. That’s a small percentage of the number of terminally ill people, but the fact that legal suicide is possible gives many people comfort, Eighmey maintained.

“The purpose is to give people facing end of life one more option,” Eighmey said.

Hoylman in his letter to the other senators said he recognizes the “legitimate profound emotional considerations and ethical and religious concerns surrounding this issue.”

But he said his legislation will include “strong protections” to ensure patients are capable of making sound, informed decisions while doctors, hospitals and pharmacists who object to the law are under no legal obligation to participate.

(daily news) highlights our additions