Fighting for the Medical Aid in Dying Act

As the 2025 legislative session amps up, Compassion & Choices and advocates are once again pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow the terminally ill to request a prescription to end their lives. 

The Medical Aid in Dying Act is sponsored by Assembly Member Amy Paulin and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and would only apply to terminally ill, mentally competent adult patients who are expected to die within six months. 

Speaking at a panel hosted by Compassion & Choices on Tuesday in Albany, Corinne Carey, Compassion & Choices' senior campaign director for New York and New Jersey, said she had the unique position of helping to pass the Medical Aid and Dying for the Terminally Ill Act in New Jersey in 2019. Only nine other states and Washington D.C. have passed similar bills.

“I watched lawmakers grapple with the issue there and I watched the opposition talk about all of the terrible things that would happen if the bill were to pass. And now here we are six years later and none of the things that opponents were afraid of have come to pass,” she said. “The only thing that has happened in New Jersey is that people have been able to experience a peaceful passing.”

The panel featured Scott Barraco, Dan Diaz and Erin Markman – all advocates who shared personal stories of having lost loved ones both in states where medical aid is legal and where it is not. 

Diaz told his story of having to move from California, where medical aid in dying was not yet legal, to Oregon with terminally ill wife Brittany Maynard, so she could die peacefully. 

“On November 1st (of 2015), which is the day that Brittany died, within five minutes of her taking that medication, she fell asleep very peacefully,” Diaz said. “Within 30 minutes, her breathing slowed to the point where she passed.”

His and his wife’s experience was featured in multiple People magazine articles. 

“New Yorkers deserve better than that of having to leave your home after you've been told that you have six months to live,” he said.

Fellow advocate Markman’s father Erin also lived in California for decades, and after it passed its medical aid bill, and explained how important it was for the quality of life in the end. Her father had a terminal tumor pressing on his nerves.

“He just had to endure something and then he wouldn't die? The outcome would not have changed. What changed was, ‘What did it feel like to live until that point?’” Markman added he was allowed to continue living his life the way he wanted. “He was living his life because he did not have this fear hanging over him.”

Barraco also told his story of losing his girlfriend, Cathy Quinn, in Rochester, and shared a very different experience from Diaz and Markman. Quinn had tongue cancer and in the late stages couldn’t drink, swallow or speak.

Since there were no medical options, Quinn ultimately tried and failed to overdose on pain medication. 

After struggling with what to do once he found her, Barraco brought her to a hospital.

“That's when the staff there explained to us this concept of medical aid in dying. And it hit like a ton of bricks. It's exactly what she needed,” he said. Quinn lingered for five or six weeks before dying.

Former president of the National Capital Baptist Convention Rev. Charles McNeil was also on the panel to discuss how he came to support the bill after first opposing it after reading the bill language. 

“For those who are legislators who think that this law should not be passed, they should look at their own selves,” McNeil said during the panel. “There comes a time when we need to take a re-evaluation of ourselves. God does not want us to suffer. He doesn't want us to be in places of hurt.”

The last panelist was Dr. Jeremy Boal, who found out he has Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal disease that causes the progressive loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Boal explained he suffered from deep depression after his diagnosis.

“What pulled me out of it more than anything else was knowing that I’ll be able to avail myself of medical aid in dying should my suffering become unbearable,” he explained. “And so my family went from seeing me practically catatonic and weeping every day to loving life and being grateful and embracing the time that we have together.”

Following the panel, Carey discussed the status of the bill in the state Legislature. The bill has more than enough votes to pass the Assembly, but has struggled to reach the votes needed in the state Senate. She is hopeful that in a non-election year, they will be able to gather the support needed. 

“We are on our way to getting there in the Senate. For the first time, the Senate Majority Leader [Andrea Stewart-Cousins] is engaged in the discussion,” she explained. “We still have some work to do. We have newly-elected senators that need to hear from their constituents. But, I really think that this could be the year. It's not going to happen though without a continuous demand.”