The New York legislature has previously considered medical aid in dying (MAiD) legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to obtain medical assistance in order to hasten their death; however, such legislation has not been successful to date. A new MAiD bill will be introduced after the state legislature goes into its 2023 session. While the new bill's passage is uncertain, recent legal developments in other states, including Oregon, Vermont and New Jersey, all of which permit MAiD, could make MAiD for terminally-ill New York residents accessible outside of New York. These developments give rise to a number of implications for New York trusts and estates practitioners in counseling their clients regarding their end of life decision-making. As a threshold matter, practitioners should inform and educate their clients about their end-of-life options, including the option of traveling to other states and/or establishing residency elsewhere in order to obtain MAiD if they become terminally ill, as well as the obstacles that may need to be overcome and the risks involved. In addition, practitioners with clients who wish to pursue MAiD may be able to take advantage of the rare opportunity of knowing, with a high degree of certainty, the exact date and time of their client's planned death, and work closely with their clients to ensure that their estate planning is optimized and fully implemented prior to their client's death.

Availability of MAiD for Terminally Ill New Yorkers

MAiD legislation and court decisions provide protection for prescribing physicians from legal charges arising from the death of their patients. MAiD is currently lawful in 11 jurisdictions within the United States, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, DC, and Washington.