CONSERVATIVE PARTY of NEW YORK STATE
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2023 Legislative Memo…IN OPPOSITION TO… Medical Aid in Dying Act

S. 2445 Hoylman-Sigal               A. 995 Paulin

Bill Purpose: To provide that a mentally competent, terminally ill patient may request medication to be self-administered for the purpose of hastening the patient’s death provided the requirements set forth in the act are met; provides certain protections and immunities to health care providers and other persons, including a physician who prescribes medication in compliance with the provisions of the article to the terminally ill patient to be self-administered by the patient. 

Party Position: Nothing is more heart wrenching than knowing your loved one will suffer unbearable pain when they are diagnosed with a disease that medical experts cannot cure.  Your loved one does not want to reach the point where the debilitating effects leave them with little dignity.  

The Medical Aid in Dying Act seeks to change New York’s law to allow health care providers to prescribe medication for your loved one to self-administer said drugs if they are terminally ill and mentally competent.  Who decides if the patient is mentally competent?  It is a crucial component of the proposed bill.

When any one is given a diagnosis that implies death is imminent, it is natural to be terrified of the future.  It is also natural for one to want to control as much of what is left of their lives as possible. However, some people become so depressed at the thought of dying they are not mentally competent to decide.  The proposed bill does not ensure that the health care providers provide the best care to their patients to keep them comfortable, with as little pain as possible, rather it allows health care providers to provide medicine to die. 

Medicine has changed.  The Hippocratic Oath is obsolete.  While most health care providers enter the medical field to help patients, there are far too many who have an agenda, Jack Kevorkian, the infamous euthanasia proponent, has many followers.  

The Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) Act is today’s Pandora’s Box.  Canada’s Supreme Court gave the government until June 6, 2016, to create a new law. In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. 

In just seven years, Canada’s MAiD law has degenerated to euthanizing its sick and poor.  Guy Benson wrote on December 6, 2022 that Canada’s Euthanasia “Slippery Slope’ Is Real and Horrifying.   Sadly, two bioethicists recently wrote in the Journal of Medical Ethics that patients who choose MAiD know what they are doing … do they really… and their choices must be respected. It isn’t only Canada’s slippery slope, every state/country who adopted MAiD has loosened the original requirements. 

Life is precious, and every effort must be made to protect patients from choosing to end it on their terms. The choice to refuse treatment is always theirs and with palliative care, one will be as comfortable as possible.

CPNYS strongly opposes the Medical Aid in Dying Act’ and urges a NO vote on the pending legislation.

LM 2023 004