Broad Coalition of Medical Professionals Join Compassion & Choices, Senators Hoylman-Sigal and Scarcella-Spanton to Call on Senate to Pass Medical Aid in Dying Act

Albany, NY – Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal joined with Senator Jesica Scarcella-Spanton, other Senators, leaders from numerous medical, legal and other statewide associations, as well as Compassion & Choices to highlight strong and deep support for the Medical Aid in Dying Act (S.138/A.136), which passed the Assembly last week.

Medical aid in dying allows terminally ill adults – those with irreversible and incurable illnesses or diseases – with a prognosis of six months or less to live, who have been found by two doctors to be mentally capable to make an informed decision to obtain a prescription that would put them to sleep and peacefully end their lives. Currently medical aid in dying is authorized in 10 states – including New Jersey and Vermont – and Washington D.C.

Senator Hoylman-Sigal noted that the bill currently has 25 sponsors and cosponsors in the Senate. He highlighted the strong support for medical aid in dying and passage of the bill from organizations including: the Medical Society of the State of New York, New York State Academy of Family Physicians, the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA), the New York State Nurses Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, as well as numerous other organizations.

Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal said: “Thanks to the leadership of Assemblymember Paulin and Speaker Heastie, our Medical Aid in Dying legislation has already passed one house of the Legislature. Now the broadest coalition ever assembled of doctors, nurses, patients and legal advocates from across New York are calling on the State Legislature to finish the job and expand the personal liberty of New Yorkers by passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law. MAID is a proven strategy to expand end-of-life options and reduce human suffering for patients with a terminal illness that is already in effect in ten states and the District of Columbia, in addition to being supported by nearly 70% of New Yorkers. I look forward to finally giving New Yorkers access to this compassionate and dignified end of life care option.”

 Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton said: "Medical Aid in Dying is gaining momentum and support from respected organizations like MSSNY and HPCANYS because giving terminally ill people the choice to die with dignity and compassion is the humane thing to do. Every day, New Yorkers with terminal illnesses are suffering needlessly, because New York State still has not gotten this legislation across the finish line. Passing MAID means giving people autonomy they deserve to make their own end-of-life decisions, and I won't stop fighting until it's written into law here in New York."  

 As a MSSNY delegate from Nassau County, I’m honored to report that the 2025 House of Delegates (HOD) reaffirmed, by over 80%, last year’s endorsement of MAiD legislation in NYS. My 2024 HOD resolution supporting MAiD legislation was overwhelmingly backed by testimony, during the reference committee hearing, from physicians representing counties across the entire state,” said Ronald Menzin, MD, MSSNY member and a Past President of Nassau County Medical Society. “The acknowledgement that patients and physicians will retain the right to opt in or decline to participate in this care was a highlight of our discussions. Now is the time to vote in favor of the compassion and caring this law will provide. Please get it done.”

“NYSAFP, representing nearly 6,000 board-certified physicians, residents, and students in family medicine across New York State, has strongly supported medical aid in dying since a resolution was passed by our Congress of Delegates in 2017 and relentlessly advocated for the bill’s passage ever since," said Dr. Rachelle Brilliant, President of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. "Physicians have an obligation to relieve human suffering and care for our patients with compassion and respect for human dignity. We feel strongly that medical aid in dying should be an option for terminally ill patients in New York and that their physician should be empowered to help them implement their wishes."

 Dr. Jeremy Boal, former Chief Clinical Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System, who stepped down from that role in late 2023 after learning that he had ALS, said: “As a physician who has cared for many patients with late stage and terminal illnesses, and as a person living with ALS, I am placing my hope in the Senate to do the right thing for me and for so many other New Yorkers. This legislation does not increase the number of New Yorkers who will die, it simply increases the number who can die without excessive pain and suffering.”

 New York State Nurses Association President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN: “As patient advocates, NYSNA nurses strongly support our patients’ right to refuse treatment and avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. We urge the passage of the Medical Aid in Dying Act because every New Yorker facing a terminal illness should have the right to a dignified and painless death at the time and place of their choosing.”

"The New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA) supports the passage of the New York State Medical Aid in Dying Act," said Edward Herman, M.D., J.D., NYSPA President.  "NYSPA joins fellow statewide medical specialty societies today in supporting the legislation, which is modeled off of laws in eleven states and jurisdictions. NYSPA endorses the legislation as it properly balances individual autonomy and important safeguards, including mandatory medical assessments by two physicians each finding that the individual has a terminal illness with less than six months to live, two separate requests by the patient (verbal and in writing), as well as requiring a mental health evaluation should either the attending or consulting physician determine that the patient may lack decision-making capacity due to a mental health disorder or condition which may cause impaired judgment. NYSPA also supports and respects a physician’s choice to decline to participate in any activities that fall within the proposed statutory definition of medical aid in dying." 

Robin Chappelle Golston, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, said:  “Medical aid in dying is about compassion, dignity, and access – it ensures that people facing unbearable suffering have the option to die on their own terms. The right to bodily autonomy and self-determination is not constrained to one aspect of being, but rather the spectrum of life. Our fight and passion for the right to make deeply personal and private decisions regarding our bodies and our futures extends to ensuring the terminally ill have the agency to make end-of-life decisions for themselves, with dignity and compassion. We applaud Senator Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Paulin for their leadership on this issue and are proud to stand with all the activists gathered here today to ensure New Yorkers have access to this vital care.” 

Representing the New York State National Organization of Women and its President, former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Mickey Belosi said: “Nothing is more fundamental to women than the dignity and freedom of choice, which encompasses the right to choose the circumstances of one's own death. When medical technology cannot provide adequate relief from pain, protection of dignity or one is in danger of losing clarity of self NOW recognizes and affirms the full autonomy of women and all to make healthcare decisions including choosing the circumstances in which to die. We cannot allow the state or religion of some individuals to deny women full access to choices concerning terminal care and ultimately death. NOW affirms that the right to make decisions about terminating one’s life is inherent to feminist principles of self-determination and autonomy and we support legislation that safeguards against coercive intrusion into such choices. We fully support the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act.” 

 “GMHC supports the right of individuals diagnosed with terminal illness to choose to die with dignity,” said GMHC’s new CEO, Jon Mallow. “At the height of the AIDS crisis, before the onset of anti-retroviral medications,  GMHC’s staff and volunteers supported thousands of New Yorkers with an AIDS diagnosis who suffered far too long until they died. Today, long-term survivors living with HIV and AIDS may suffer from comorbidities due to the years they successfully fought the virus before effective medications became available. Should any of those comorbidities become terminal, they should be able to make end-of-life decisions, in consultation with their doctors and loved ones. GMHC calls on the New York State Senate to join the State Assembly in passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act.”

Denise Murphy McGraw, National Co-Chair, Catholics Vote Common Good, said: “Catholics Vote Common Good’s mission is to activate and provide progressive Catholics - as well as candidates who are committed to the common good of lifting up the quality of life of all Americans - with the tools they need to be informed and engaged voters focused on addressing issues of social justice, immigration, climate change, and the scourge of White Christian Nationalism. We support the Paulin/Hoylman-Sigal legislation because we believe no one should endure the physical and emotional suffering of end-stage terminal illness if they choose not to.”

Assemblymember Amy Paulin, sponsor of the Medical Aid in Dying Act for a decade, said: “I’m incredibly grateful to Senator Hoylman-Sigal for his unwavering advocacy in the State Senate and to the advocates who have fought for years to see the Medical Aid in Dying Act become law. Having just passed this bill in the Assembly, it’s now time for the Senate to act. No one should be forced to endure needless suffering at the end of life when a compassionate, safe, and dignified option exists. We owe it to every New Yorker facing a terminal illness to give them the autonomy and peace-of mind they deserve.”

Corinne Carey, Senior Campaign Director for NY/NJ for Compassion & Choices, said: “The breadth and depth of support for medical aid in dying from so many medical, legal, and civic groups representing so many communities across this state is overwhelming. We thank these groups for their efforts and we know we would not be here today without their support. Collectively, our message is very clear and very simple: “Senators, please listen to dying New Yorkers and give them the power to make their own end-of-life decisions.”