Federal lawsuit filed to block New York’s Medical Aid in Dying law
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.
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.
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’s specific legal claims Thursday but defended the statute’s integrity.
“While 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,” said a Hochul spokesperson on Thursday. “It reflects years of thoughtful planning and consideration.”
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.
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