Medical Aid in Dying Deconstructs Family Restoration

The New York State Assembly has just passed the most lenient and unchecked euthanasia bill not just in America, but throughout the world. Awaiting Senate approval and signature by the governor, the bill seriously lacks safeguards, instigating a bipartisan effort that saw 20 Democrats break ranks to vote with the Assembly’s 47 Republicans against the bill – entitled Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) – while 81 remaining Democrats voted for passage.

The bill fails to require patients to be psychiatrically evaluated before opting for suicide, and does not outline a mechanism for recovery of the lethal drug from those who request it but then later decide against its use. Furthermore, while two physicians are required for the fatal prescription, they may be consulted virtually – no in person meeting is required. Most significant is that MAID sends a troubling message that life can cease to be worth living.

Those most vulnerable to this fatal influence will consist of those too poor to obtain adequate medical care, the marginalized, and research reveals that women are a particularly vulnerable segment of this group.  See Women and Assisted Suicide: Exposing the Gender Vulnerability to Acquiescent Death, 4 Cardozo Women’s L. J. 241 (1997). Your family members could be at risk without you ever realizing it.

Finally, while a few other state jurisdictions have some type of assisted suicide allowance, New York’s legislation requires no waiting period whatsoever – turning suicide into a spur of the moment decision and a medical treatment option.

While some may argue in favor of euthanasia as an individual choice, it does not accomplish family restoration. Rather, as Madeline Kearns of The Free Press (June 8, 2025) notes, there exist some very authentic concerns for the individual and for society:

The assisted suicide advocates I spoke with have many admirable qualities. Chief among them is their strong will and clear-mindedness. But they risk assuming that everyone facing a devastating diagnosis is of a similar disposition. What they might not appreciate is that in insisting on control at the end of life, they are chipping away at the agency of those who have so little to begin with and whose motivations may be compromised by depression, uncertainty, loneliness, ambivalence, grief, poverty, or despair. We owe these New Yorkers more than we currently give. And much more than a cocktail of barbiturates.