Meet our new President

In the News

Recent Events

Recently, the American Association of Suicidology shared a public statement about the difference between suicide and medical aid in dying. We have long been explaining the differences between these two acts and are incredibly grateful to the association for sharing their perspective on medical aid in dying while underscoring the need for suicide prevention and care. Please download this handout that clearly shows the differences.

Our Executive Director, Mandi Zucker, was recently interviewed by WAMC’s David Guistina of The Capitol Connection about medical aid in dying. They talk about the law that is set to be implemented in 2 weeks and protections to keep the patient and family/friends safe. Listen to it here.

End Notes

Updates

Coming to You from Westminster Abbey!

A couple weeks ago I visited Westminster Abbey in London on a little vacation with my partner. I spent a morning surrounded by some incredibly powerful and influential people… actually, DEAD people. It was a good reminder that we are mortal, we are human, and we all get to live a life full of literature, art, creativity, and love. Please take some time to indulge in the beauty of life and remember that we get to have fun until we die. In the words of Lewis Carroll, “Is all our life then, but a dream?”.

Meet our Summer Interns

Joining us this summer for their summer internships are Brianna Moran and Mitra Minovi! Brianna and Mitra are working to raise awareness about Medical Aid in Dying by providing community outreach support to communities all across New York state. Their work is directly supporting EOLCNY’s mission for all New Yorkers to have autonomy and choice at their end of life!

Brianna is a certified Pediatric End-of-Life Doula. She received her training and certification through the University of Vermont. Her passion for this work comes from a deeply personal place. She grew up in Upstate New York with a very ill sibling who had cerebral palsy as a result of a brain injury. From a young age, she was immersed in the complexities of caring for a medically fragile loved one, which shaped her desire to support families like hers.

After her sister’s passing in 2020, Brianna knew that she wanted to help families facing similar experiences. Becoming an end-of-life doula has allowed her to do exactly that.

Mitra is a student of Social Anthropology and Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. She has always been passionate about autonomy for all, whether it was campaigning for the New York Equal Rights Amendment upstate or lobbying on Capital Hill for the Women, Life, Freedom movement. She is excited to work with End of Life Choices New York this summer during such a historic time!

Update on Medical Aid in Dying Implementation

Implementation Day is fast approaching and we continue to work with clinicians and others across the state to be ready. We are looking for physicians in private practice who are interested in learning more about providing aid-in-dying care. And we need your help to find them! Do you have an appointment in the next few weeks with a cardiologist, oncologist, neurologist, geriatrician or someone else who could potential provide care at the end of life? Share this flyer with them or ask if they’d be open to a conversation about medical aid in dying with End of Life Choices New York and The Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine. We would be happy to schedule a call to introduce them to the practice and provide resources for them to feel competent and capable to practice in this area.

We now have at least four pharmacies across the state that have agreed to provide the prescriptions for medical aid in dying, but are also looking for more. These prescriptions are compounded and provided in a powdered form that the patient or caregiver then mixes with a liquid for the patient to drink. If you need assistance picking up the medications, preparing them or paying for them, please reach out to us for assistance. And if you work with a compounding pharmacy, please share the flyer as well.

The Department of Health has issued their proposed regulations on medical aid in dying, attached here. There is currently an open comment period that will end on August 3, two days prior to Implementation Day on August 5th.

We continue to speak to patients who are interested in considering medical aid in dying and have already begun connecting them to physicians to pre-plan as much as they can which receiving quality care. We have also been able to connect patients with family members of people who used medical aid in dying in other states, so they can begin to learn what the process was generally like (although it will be slightly different in each state) and ask questions that only family and friends will be able to answer. We are honored to be able to coordinate this part of the process. If you are in need, please reach out to us! If you are a clinician of any sort (doctor, nurse, social worker, chaplain, pharmacist, volunteer, doula, or hospital/hospice system), please complete this survey. The answers to this survey will not be made public but will allow us to reach out to you to offer you the opportunity to connect with patients based on their needs. This survey has informed us already that we have strong interest from all sorts of clinicians in providing this care, including pharmacists, doctors, psychologists and end of life doulas.

Please continue to share the flyer highlighting our partnership with the Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine with anyone you think could benefit from resources and education. Together with The Academy, we are your go-to source for all things related to the implementation of excellent aid-in-dying care. Please reach out to us with questions, concerns and needs.

If you learn of trainings in your community, please forward them to us so we can reach out and let them know about the support we can provide. We are thrilled that we have been seeing trainings popping up and we want to support any organization to provide the best quality care possible.

We continue to receive many requests by major media outlets to interview people who are considering this option when it becomes available. This is an important way we can use the media to bring more awareness about this option. If you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and will likely be eligible to use medical aid in dying in the next 6-12 months, and you’d be willing to talk to the media either in print or on TV, please let me know. I can put you in touch with very sensitive reporters and producers who want to help share your story in a compassionate and dignified manner.