Category: Physician Assisted Suicide

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Help Oppose Physician Assisted Suicide in NY!

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 the form linked here to contact your NYS legislative representatives. Please do so soon as they could vote any day! Please note, while the suggested text in the Message Body is a good starting point, please edit it to “make it your own”! Legislators receive many messages and tend to give less attention (or completely ignore!) unoriginal messages.

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.

NY Alliance Against Assisted Suicide

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Urgent Call To Action: Help STOP Pending Assisted Suicide Law In NY

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,
 NYS Senate Health Committee
Chair: J. Gustavo Rivera, District 33Albany: 518-455-3395District: 718-933-2034Email HereSamra G. Brouk, District 55Albany: 518 455-2215District: 585-223-1800Email HereSimcha Felder, District 22Albany: 518 455-2754District: 718-253-2015Email Here
Brad Holyman Sigal, District 47Albany: 518-455-2451District: 212-633-8052Email HereKristen Gonzalez, District 59Albany: 518-455-3250District: 718-765-6674Email HereRobert Jackson, District 31Albany: 518-455-2041District: 212-544-0173Email Here
Zellnor Myrie, District 20Albany: 518-455-2410District: 718-284-4700Email HereKevin S. Parker, District 5Albany: 518-455-2580District: 718-629-6401Email HereChristopher J. Ryan, District 50District: 315-428-7632Albany: 518-455-3511Email Here
Lea Webb, District 52Albany: 518- 455-2170District: 607-773-8771Email HerePatrick Gallivan, District 60Albany: 518-455-3471District: 716-656-8544Email HereJacob Ashby, District 43Albany: 518-371-2751District: 518-455-2381Email Here
Jack M. Martins, District 7 Albany: 518-455-2677District: 516-922-1811Email HereStephen D. Rhoads, District 50Albany: 518-455-3161District: 516-882-0630Email HereDaniel 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 HereRodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, District 42Albany: 518-455-5385District: 718-940-0428Email Here
Jake Blumencranz, District 15Albany: 518-455-4684District: 516-937-3571Email HereEdward C. Braunstein, District 26Albany: 518-455-5425District: 718-357-3588Email HerePatrick J. Chuldzinski, District 143Albany: 518-4555921District: 716-686-0080Email Here
Jeffrey Dinowitz, District 81Albany: 518-455-5965District: 718-796-5345Email HerePhara Souffrant Forrest, District 57Albany: 518-455-5325District: 718-796-5345Email HereJarett Gandolfo, District 7Albany: 518-455-4611District: 718-457-0384Email Here
Jessica González-Rojas, District 34Albany: 518-455-4545District: 718-457-0384Email HereScott Gray, District 116 Albany: 518-455-5545District: 718-457-0384Email HereJen Lunsford, District 135Albany: 518-455-5784District: 585-223-9130Email Here
Andrew Hevesi, District 28 Albany: 518-455-4926District: 718-263-5595Email HereJosh Jensen, District 134  Albany: 518-455-4664 District: 585-225-4190Email HereAnna R. Kelles, District 125Albany: 518-455-5444District: 607-277-8030Email Here
Nikki Lucas, District 60 Albany: 518-455-5912District: 718-257-5824Email HereJohn T. McDonald III, District 108Albany: 518-455-4474Email HereBrian Maher, District 101Albany: 518-455-4633District: 845-379-5001Email Here
Daniel J. Norber, District 16Albany: 518-455-5192District: 516-482-6966Email HereJenifer Rajkumar, District 38 Albany: 518-455-4621District: 718-805-0950Email HereKarines Reyes, District 87 Albany: 518-455-5102District: 718-931-2620Email Here
Daniel Rosenthal, District 27Albany: 518-455-4404District: 212-873-6368Email HereLinda B. Rosenthal, District 67Albany: 518-455-5802 District: 212-873-6368Email HereNader J. Sayegh, District 90 Albany: 518 455 3662District: 914-779-8805Email Here
Michaelle C. Solages, District 22Albany: 518-455-4465District: 516-599-2972Email HerePhil Steck, District 110 Albany: 518-455-5931 District: 518-377-0902Email Here
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Euthanasia “Safeguards”

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.

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Mt. Carmel House

Thank you to the Catholic Courier for their article highlighting the wonderful work being done by Mt. Carmel House! The volunteers and staff are truly doing God’s work, caring for the dying.

If you are looking to volunteer with a worthy organization, give them a call!

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Terminal Anorexia

Their primary concern is:

ANAD fears that this label could be used as a justification for providers to offer medical aid in dying and overlook the fact recovery remains possible even after decades of chronic illness.

This is a very reasonable/real concern. We need to remember that while it may not be true of all supporters of PAS, there are those who truly think at need to be facilitating the killing of people who are suffering…in ever-larger numbers.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, please seek help. ANDA has a helpline and treatment directory. It can also contact MyCatholicDoctor for help from Catholic therapists licensed in many States.

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Deep Sedation for “Psycho-Existential Suffering”… Euthanasia?

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.