February 2025
To the Honorable Members of the New York State Legislature:
We write on behalf of the New York Biomedical Roundtable. Our over 250 members are doctors, nurses, medical and nursing assistants, medical residents, medical students, and pharmacists, working at major medical centers in the New York Metropolitan Area. We oppose legislation (A-136/S-138) that would legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide (P-AS), or "Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD)." We believe this legislation will erode doctor-patient trust, harm the vulnerable, and cannot be controlled.
Consider that you are being asked to legalize suicide. Evidence shows that, contrary to expectation, in jurisdictions wherein P-AS has been legalized, rates of general suicide have increased. The epidemic of depression and other negative ideations – particularly among our young people – makes this perhaps the worst possible time for lawmakers to legitimize suicide as a way out.
You are being told that “Doctors are in favor of MAiD.” If you speak with some of those doctors, you will learn that many “in favor” are instead exhausted in trying to provide necessary care to ease their patients’ pain and despair. Government funding is inadequate, and the growing corporatization of health care is diverting funds away from the disabled and the dying. We cannot succumb to this failure.
Consider that the fragmentation of medical care means that most New Yorkers are not privileged to have their own primary doctor. Thus, a prescriber who does not know the patient may be asked to take responsibility for their death.
You are being told that “Patients are in favor.” But have they been apprised of the data? In every jurisdiction where MAiD has been legalized, it becomes euthanasia, i.e., the active killing of the patient. Have they been told that in Canada in 2022, 2,264 were euthanized for loneliness, 323 for inability to obtain palliative careand 196 for lack of adequate disability services? Diagnoses now eligible for MAiD are, in Canada: dementia with advanced directive, autism, and psychiatric diseases (in ‘27), and in Oregon: anorexia nervosa.
Such lethality in the name of autonomy poses harm to innocent others. It’s no wonder the American Medical Association (AMA) by vote this past November said, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
We understand that those supporting this idea are motivated by sincere compassion, but it is misguided. While every terminally ill, suffering patient ought to invoke compassion, suicide is not the answer. Rather, we must strive to improve end-of-life care. Legislators and heath care professionals in New York State must work together to obtain the resources to relieve each individual person’s various forms of pain. Sanctioning suicide is not the answer.
Respectfully submitted,
New York Biomedical Roundtable, with membership of over 250 healthcare professionals in the NY Metropolitan Area [www.newyorkbmr.org]. including NY Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia Medical School, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This organization and its website reflect individual views and do not reflect any institutional views.
Eve Slater, MD, President, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and former Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001-03).
Jonathan M. Barasch, MD, PhD, Board member, Lambert Professor of Medicine, Urology, & Pathology at Columbia Medical School.
Maria De Miguel, MD, MS, Board member, Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Donald W. Landry, MD, PhD, Board member, Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine, Chair Emeritus of the Department of Medicine, and Director of the Center for Human Longevity at Columbia University.
Diane E. Meier, MD, Board member, Professor of Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and past CEO of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC.org).
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This organization and its website only reflect individual views; it does not reflect any institutional views, including those of Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons or New York Presbyterian Hospital.
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