a chartered guild of the Catholic Medical Association
***Update – 9/4/26***
The video of Grand Rounds is not available here:
***
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for today’s Medicine Grand Rounds on scMAiD.
The talk was well-attended, both in person and online, with robust and civil discussion among those who disagree on this important issue.
We hope to continue the conversation, regardless of whether or not we agree!
Dr. Carroll will be joining (via video) Fr. Stephen Yusko, STL and the Albany Catholic Medical Guild with an update and recommendations regarding the soon-to-be available so-called Medical Aid in Dying (scMAiD). The focus of the evening will be on what physicians should know about the new New York State law legalizing scMAiD and how we might respond when this topic comes up, whether with patients or anyone else.
The Albany Guild has graciously opened to anyone who might be interested, so please join us for a short presentation followed by Q&A!
Update: Here’s the flyer from the Albany Guild
The NY Assembly passed the Physician Suicide bill today. Please contact your NY Senator ASAP to register your opposition to this bill!
Please take a moment to review the current state of Physician Assisted Suicide in NY…and…please contact your NY State Assembly Member and Senator today!
Thank you to our NYS Bishops, who are always ready to lead the charge into the breach! We also appreciate their efforts to Reclaim the Language with the term “State-Sanctioned Suicide.” It is important to use accurate terms generally and only more so as the Culture of Death attempts to obscure the truth by changing the language!
You can use this page to find your NYS Senator. Please do so soon as they could vote any day!
More info can be found at these links:
NYS Catholic Conference
1. Assisted Suicide page, including a link to Episode 14 of the Catholic Compass podcast featuring our own Dr. Thomas Carroll!
2. Prolife Activities – Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia, which has links to many helpful resources.
| The Pro-Life FeministLegislative Advocacy February 13th, 2025 (Vol. 4) |
| URGENT CALL TO ACTION |
| Please call and email your NYS Legislators and URGE them to VOTE NO to the pending Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Act. Several NYS Legislators already re-introduced MAID this year in both the NYS Assembly & Senate. Both MAID bills, A136 and S138, were referred to the health committees in each respective chamber. Please URGE the NYS Legislators that sit in these health committees to VOTE NO to MAID. MAID permits doctors to give qualifying people, including teenagers (18 + 19 year olds), a lethal overdose of drugs to self-administer. MAID endangers the lives of vulnerable people, including the disabled and aged.MAID disproportionately impacts women. MAID normalizes suicide, especially by drug overdose.MAID allows individuals to financially benefit from the death of MAID victims. |
| The American Medical Association opposes MAID. The AMA clearly states that physician assisted suicide “would ultimately cause more harm than good.” |
| Robust research demonstrates that legalizing assisted suicide is associated with a “significant increase in total suicides,” and serves as a “threat to suicide prevention.” |
| It is a fundamental principle of suicide prevention that ‘every suicide is a tragedy’. Every death robs the world of someone who is unique, irreplaceable, a world in themselves. David Albert Jones, Research Fellow, Oxford University |
| A “growing body of evidence” shows- feeling like a “burden to others”- is a relevant factor in “death hastening acts.” Nearly half of Canadians, for example, who died by assisted suicide cited they felt like a “burden on family, friends or caregivers,” among their reasons for committing suicide. |
| (Please only participate if you are a NY Registered Voter) |
Phone & Email Script Suggestion: Dear Senator/Assemblyperson, I am a voting New Yorker and I oppose the Medical Aid in Dying Act /MAID. MAID jeopardizes the lives of the disabled, aged and infirm. Legalizing medical aid in dying increases rates of suicide, according to comprehensive studies, and disproportionately impacts women. Self-administering a lethal dose of drugs, even if provided by a physician, is suicide, and helping someone commit suicide is criminal. Progressive societies promote life-affirming solutions, not the violent destruction of human life. On behalf of vulnerable people and future generations please VOTE NO to MAID, #S138, #A136. Sincerely, |
| Chair: J. Gustavo Rivera, District 33Albany: 518-455-3395District: 718-933-2034Email Here | Samra G. Brouk, District 55Albany: 518 455-2215District: 585-223-1800Email Here | Simcha Felder, District 22Albany: 518 455-2754District: 718-253-2015Email Here |
| Brad Holyman Sigal, District 47Albany: 518-455-2451District: 212-633-8052Email Here | Kristen Gonzalez, District 59Albany: 518-455-3250District: 718-765-6674Email Here | Robert Jackson, District 31Albany: 518-455-2041District: 212-544-0173Email Here |
| Zellnor Myrie, District 20Albany: 518-455-2410District: 718-284-4700Email Here | Kevin S. Parker, District 5Albany: 518-455-2580District: 718-629-6401Email Here | Christopher J. Ryan, District 50District: 315-428-7632Albany: 518-455-3511Email Here |
| Lea Webb, District 52Albany: 518- 455-2170District: 607-773-8771Email Here | Patrick Gallivan, District 60Albany: 518-455-3471District: 716-656-8544Email Here | Jacob Ashby, District 43Albany: 518-371-2751District: 518-455-2381Email Here |
| Jack M. Martins, District 7 Albany: 518-455-2677District: 516-922-1811Email Here | Stephen D. Rhoads, District 50Albany: 518-455-3161District: 516-882-0630Email Here | Daniel G. Stec, District 45Albany: 518-455-2811District: 518-743-0968Email Here |
| NYS Assembly Health Committee |
| Chair: Amy Paulin, District 88Albany: (518) 455-5585District: 914-723-1115Email Here | Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, District 42Albany: 518-455-5385District: 718-940-0428Email Here |
| Jake Blumencranz, District 15Albany: 518-455-4684District: 516-937-3571Email Here | Edward C. Braunstein, District 26Albany: 518-455-5425District: 718-357-3588Email Here | Patrick J. Chuldzinski, District 143Albany: 518-4555921District: 716-686-0080Email Here |
| Jeffrey Dinowitz, District 81Albany: 518-455-5965District: 718-796-5345Email Here | Phara Souffrant Forrest, District 57Albany: 518-455-5325District: 718-796-5345Email Here | Jarett Gandolfo, District 7Albany: 518-455-4611District: 718-457-0384Email Here |
| Jessica González-Rojas, District 34Albany: 518-455-4545District: 718-457-0384Email Here | Scott Gray, District 116 Albany: 518-455-5545District: 718-457-0384Email Here | Jen Lunsford, District 135Albany: 518-455-5784District: 585-223-9130Email Here |
| Andrew Hevesi, District 28 Albany: 518-455-4926District: 718-263-5595Email Here | Josh Jensen, District 134 Albany: 518-455-4664 District: 585-225-4190Email Here | Anna R. Kelles, District 125Albany: 518-455-5444District: 607-277-8030Email Here |
| Nikki Lucas, District 60 Albany: 518-455-5912District: 718-257-5824Email Here | John T. McDonald III, District 108Albany: 518-455-4474Email Here | Brian Maher, District 101Albany: 518-455-4633District: 845-379-5001Email Here |
| Daniel J. Norber, District 16Albany: 518-455-5192District: 516-482-6966Email Here | Jenifer Rajkumar, District 38 Albany: 518-455-4621District: 718-805-0950Email Here | Karines Reyes, District 87 Albany: 518-455-5102District: 718-931-2620Email Here |
| Daniel Rosenthal, District 27Albany: 518-455-4404District: 212-873-6368Email Here | Linda B. Rosenthal, District 67Albany: 518-455-5802 District: 212-873-6368Email Here | Nader J. Sayegh, District 90 Albany: 518 455 3662District: 914-779-8805Email Here |
| Michaelle C. Solages, District 22Albany: 518-455-4465District: 516-599-2972Email Here | Phil Steck, District 110 Albany: 518-455-5931 District: 518-377-0902Email Here |
So-called safeguards are often touted as making Euthanasia/Physician Assisted Suicide “safe.” As should be shocking to no one, it turns out that such so-called safeguards are worth approximately as much as a paper upon which they are written.
Read the whole thing and consider whether or not something similar is likely to be happening here in the US.
The issue of continuous deep (to-unconsciousness) sedation (CDS) to relieve suffering has been discussed in the literature and, indeed, used in clinical practice for a number of years. Two recent articles prompted this brief post…
First…
For our purposes, we should note that while a minority of all patients receiving continuous deep sedation (CDS) do so for psycho-existential suffering (8.5%), and only one for solely this type of suffering… the VAST majority of these patients (78.6%) also desired “hastened death.”
So, it seems that we have a patient who is suffering and wishes to end his/her life. Then, the doctor administers a medication (with the express purpose of inducing CDS) that renders that patient incapable of eating/drinking… until the patient dies. It is far from clear how one could claim that this is anything other than euthanasia.
Second…
We very much appreciate the balanced approach of Drs. Dalle Ave and Sulmasy. Finding a balance between the maintenance of consciousness and the relief of otherwise intractable (perhaps “non-beneficial”) suffering is often difficult…and always important.
