The Medical Aid in Dying Act has taken effect in New York Wednesday, allowing terminally ill adults the option to end their lives with the help of a doctor. The act was signed into law in February and allows incredibly sick New Yorkers with six months to live, to end their lives through medical assistance. It is also commonly known as medically assisted suicide. “Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Gov. Kathy Hochul previously said when bill S.138/A.136 was signed into law. Hochul, who witnessed her mom suffer from ALS said that it “took years of intimate discussions with our bill sponsors, health experts, advocates, and most importantly, families who have similar firsthand experiences. New Yorkers deserve the choice to endure less suffering, not by shortening their lives, but by shortening their deaths — I firmly believe we made the right decision.” The Medical Aid in Dying Act offers protections so no patient is coerced into it and that no health care professional or religious-affiliated institution is forced to provide it. The guardrails stipulated in the law include: A mandatory waiting period of 5 days between when a prescription is written and filled. Recording a video or audio of an oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying. A mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying. A prohibition against anyone who may benefit financially from the death of a patient from being eligible to serve as a witness to the oral request or an interpreter for the patient. Limiting medical aid in dying to New York residents. Requiring the initial evaluation of a patient by a physician be in person. Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying. Ensuring that a violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct under the Education Law. New York joins other states, like Colorado, Oregon, Washington and New Jersey, in offering medically assisted suicide to terminally ill patients. Medically assisted suicide and right-to-die legislations have been an ongoing hot topic due to the morality, ethic and religious topics it touches upon. Those against have argued the possibility of coercing vulnerable patients and the theological ramifications against suicide. However, activists for the measure have argued personal autonomy and relief from prolonged, unavoidable and incurable suffering. Medically assisted suicide or medical aid in dying generally involves a patient voluntarily taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor. Euthanasia involves a doctor or other healthcare professional administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request. Not only has it become a hot topic in the U.S., but worldwide. On Wednesday, France’s National Assembly also gave final approval Wednesday to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care. End-of-life options are also being debated in the United Kingdom. A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales will formally return to Parliament on Sept. 11, five months after it ran out of time in Parliament’s last session. ...read more read less