This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
An 85-year-old former doctor turned himself in on manslaughter charges in New York state in February after police and medical personnel determined he had traveled to New York from Arizona to help a woman commit suicide.
Several New York lawmakers are now rallying behind people like Stephen Miller, the former doctor, to ensure that people like him don't end up in prison in the future for participating in assisted suicide.
Legislation pending in the New York House and Senate, called Medical Aid in Dying, would give terminally ill people the ability to choose the time of their death. The bill's longtime sponsor believes she is very close to passing the legislation.
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Amy Paulin, a Democrat from the New York State State Assembly, told Fox News Digital that she is “hopeful” her Medical Aid in Dying Act legislation will pass. (Assemblyman Amy Paulin)
“I'm so hopeful,” New York State Assemblymember Amy Paulin told Fox News Digital. “We are very, very close. I would say there is an excellent chance of success, but not 100%.”
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Paulin, a Democrat, has supported the bill since 2015. Just a year after she proposed the Medical Aid in Dying Act, her family learned that a sister's previous cancer diagnosis had returned.
“Eventually the pain was so severe that her only choice was to take such heavy medications that essentially put her to sleep, or to continue talking to us, which was her preference,” Paulin said.
“Every few minutes when she wasn't taking the drugs that would knock her out, she would scream, 'When am I going to die already?'”
The representative admits that since assisted suicide was not an option for her sister, she never discussed with her whether she would like to pursue that option.
Multiple polls have shown New Yorkers supporting Medical Aid in Dying by a 2-1 margin, but there are some policy experts who are concerned.
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Alex Thompson, advocacy director for the New York Association on Independent Living, said people with disabilities already struggle to get the care they need, prompting him to raise concerns about assisted suicide.
“There are a lot of concerns from our community, especially around access to medical care, insurance denials and all the things that people with disabilities experience on a regular basis,” Thompson told Fox News Digital. “It's quite frightening that you can't access treatment that could refer you to assisted suicide.”
Thompson also expressed concern that once the laws are on the books, protections that were in the original legislation could be expanded.
“There's always a path to expansion. If they frame it in New York, and I hear proponents of the bill in New York saying it's very limited, and it has all these protections.” said Thompson.
He cited two lawsuits in New Jersey and Vermont that he said aim to expand the original eligibility requirements for assisted suicide in those states. Both lawsuits demand that assisted suicide in those states not be limited to just their residents.
'There are a lot of concerns about it [how] that's probably what they're going to do in New York,” Thompson said.
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There are ten states in the US where assisted suicide is legal. (iStock)
In Canada, assisted suicide laws have existed since 2016. Last year, Canadian lawmakers began considering whether a diagnosis of mental illness could be the only qualification for people to seek assisted suicide.
The New York Post reported this month that a 29-year-old, physically healthy Dutch woman has been given the right to assisted suicide because of her mental illness, including chronic depression, anxiety, trauma, borderline personality disorder and autism.
The New York State Capitol in Albany. (Fox News photo/Joshua Comins)
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Assemblywoman Paulin assures that these types of diagnoses will not be sufficient for permission to use Medical Aid in Dying in New York.
“We have the strongest protections in the New York bill of any state and that would not be considered eligible,” she said. “According to the law, you must actually die within six months. And that must be confirmed by your doctor and then by a second doctor. So two doctors have to sign.”
There are ten states in the US where assisted suicide is legal: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Washington, DC also authorized it.
