Welcome back to the TAM Block's podcast. I'm Brian Anderson, the editor of City

Journal, and joining me on the show

today is John Herschauer. He's an associate editor of City Journal, and he also writes about

policy related to mental illness and disability, as well as other cultural issues. Today,

John's here to discuss his recent coverage of the debate surrounding assisted suicide in New York.

He recently wrote a sharp piece on this for City Journal called Say No to Suicide, New York.

John, thanks very much for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Brian.

The New York State Assembly recently, well, actually it was more than the assembly.

It was the entire

legislature has now passed the Medical Aid and Dying Act, as it's called. I wonder if you

could just describe what the current status of that legislation is, and what's in the bill? How would

it change the medical landscape in New York in terms of how care is provided for the terminally ill.

Sure. So like you said, the bill passed the state assembly in April, and then it just recently passed the state senate earlier this month.

The margin was narrower in the Senate than it was in the assembly. And basically the bill heads to Governor Kathy Hokel's desk. And if it's signed, it would make New York the 13th state in the country to allow assisted suicide.

Now, this is a little bit different from euthanasia where a medical provider would be administering the drug.

In this case, people who request the drug have to administer it themselves.

There's no residency requirement in the bill, so theoretically people could come

from out of state by other people, and if they qualify under New York's law, they could request and

then receive the lethal dose of drugs. In order to be eligible for assisted suicide, a person has to

be diagnosed with a terminal illness that gives them six months or less to live by two separate

independent physicians.

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