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Know Your Rights: A Plain Language Guide
As life comes to an end, Every person has the right to make decisions about how they want to live their final days and how they would like to die. In New York, individuals have several options to guide their care and treatment at the end of life. Some of these options include:
Choosing or Refusing Medical Treatments
In New York, you have the right to accept or refuse medical treatments, even if refusing could lead to your death. This includes decisions about taking, refusing or stopping medications, opting for or against surgical procedures, and using life-sustaining treatments such as ventilation, dialysis and artificial nutrition. You can start or stop any of these treatments at any time. If you cannot make decisions for yourself, an advance directive, such as a healthcare proxy, ensures your wishes are followed. This document allows you to appoint someone to make medical decisions for you.
Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED)
Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking is a legal option for those who want to end their lives naturally and peacefully. VSED involves intentionally refusing food and liquids to hasten death. This choice is typically made by individuals facing terminal illnesses or suffering from unbearable conditions.
Learn MoreHospice and Palliative Care
Hospice and palliative care focus on comfort rather than cure, helping individuals live with personal autonomy and minimal pain. Palliative care is available for anyone with a serious illness, not just at the end of life. It focuses on relieving symptoms and improving quality of life. Hospice is for people in the final stages of a terminal illness, typically within the last six months of life. It provides comprehensive support, including pain management, emotional support, and help for families.
Stopping or Withdrawing Treatment
If you are already receiving life-sustaining treatment, you have the right to stop it. This includes ventilation, dialysis, and feeding tubes. Doctors must follow your wishes, even if stopping treatments leads to death. If you have a healthcare proxy or advance directive, you can share these documents to help guide these decisions if you are unable to speak for yourself.
Medical Aid in Dying
Although medical aid in dying is not yet legal in New York, in states where it is available, this option allows terminally-ill adults with decision making capacity to request medication from their doctor that they can self-ingest to end their life peacefully.
Learn MoreCommunicate Your Wishes Early
Your right to make these choices is protected by New York law. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals must generally respect your decisions, even if they disagree with them. However, if a provider is unwilling to honor your wishes, they must transfer your care to someone who will. It is important to communicate your wishes early, before you are unable to do so.
Consider these steps to make sure your wishes are respected:
- Complete advance directives
- Talk to your loved ones about your wishes
- Consult your healthcare providers to make a plan and make sure it will be followed.
