Take Control: Plan Your End of Life Today

Mandi Zucker

April 16, 2025

Live How You Like, Leave How You Like

Today is National Healthcare Decisions Day. It’s always the day after Tax Day, because they say the only two things you can count on are death and taxes! So if you took care of your taxes yesterday, take care of your death today!

There are many resources to help you get educated about the importance of advance care planning. The Conversation Project provides free guides to help you start the discussion with the important people in your life about your end of life wishes. It also has state specific resources where you can find advance directives in English and Spanish. More New York documents can be found on our website as well. Use this national day to start, review or revise your end of life plans. And if you need help, we are always here to provide support and answer questions, so reach out any time.

Mandi Zucker, LSW
Executive Director

Recent Events & Updates

A Time was Had in Bedford

Last week, EOLCNY board member, Kristen Karlberg, hosted a beautiful, intimate gathering in her home for some veteran and new supporters of this organization. Attendees had a chance to hear from our advocacy team about the work we are doing to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Bill (A.136/S. 138) and learn how they can get involved. They also got a chance to practice talking about their own end of life wishes in a comfortable setting, and hopefully will go back to their own friends and family and spread the word about how important these conversations are. We raised some money, made some new friends, and did it all in a beautiful home with great food (shout out to my new favorite cheese- St. Stephen by Four Fat Fowl)! If you were unable to attend but would like to support our work, please consider a donation here.

Barbara Swartz End of Life Choices Lecture

We are just over two weeks away from the Barbara Swartz Annual Lecture! Registration is open and we are excited to reach a large number of New Yorkers who want to know the basics of MAiD and what’s at stake in passing this important legislation. Please share the flyer in any way that makes sense (e.g. email, social media, posting in your building). To register, either click here or scan the QR code on the flyer. Did we mention it’s FREE?

What: 2025 Barbara Swartz Annual Lecture on Medical Aid in Dying

When: Thursday, May 1st, 6:00pm

Where: virtually, on Zoom

How: register here then receive the Zoom link

Questions?: aaron@eolcny.org

Medical Aid in Dying Campaign Update

The past two weeks saw more progress on our efforts to advance medical aid in dying legislation in New York.

We finished producing patient, caregiver and medical professional videos that will help articulate the need for enacting medical aid in dying legislation. You can watch the videos here, here, here, and here. These videos will be shown as digital advertisements in five specific senate districts in NYC and Buffalo, where we are working to encourage constituents to reach out to their senators.
Ad buys began in numerous community newspapers, both print and online editions, which will run through the end of the legislative session in June. These ads, micro-targeted to individuals who live in the five Senate districts we are focused on, will educate voters on the need to enact medical aid in dying legislation and provide them with a link they can use to complete a postcard from them to their local Senator urging their support for MAID.
In total, this ad campaign will reach 72,000 weekly readers in print media, and over 1 million monthly digital users.

Ask Us Anything

Q: What is the “slippery slope” we hear about when it comes to medical aid in dying?

A: There is a small group of people who believe that if medical aid in dying were to become legal in NY, advocates would then try to expand assisted deaths to include people with disabilities, chronic illnesses or people who cannot afford medical care. These sentiments are absolutely false and have never been introduced into law since the first state enacted this law 30 years ago.

If you have a question you’d like answered, send it here!

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