A push to legalize life-ending medication for terminally ill New Yorkers

WNYC News

Barbara Thomas stood in the middle of a busy underground hallway entering the New York State Capitol last month, one of roughly a dozen older activists in yellow T-shirts who handed out coaster-sized stickers of yellow roses to lawmakers and lobbyists whizzing by. More than a decade ago, her husband was diagnosed with brain cancer. Thomas said he was bed-ridden and couldn’t so much as turn over on his own. After a 15-month struggle, he died. “He really wanted me to shoot him,” said Thomas, 77, who lives north of Albany. “I didn’t feel like I could do that.” Now, Thomas and some fellow civic-minded activists are fighting for the right to die. For the last nine years, Thomas has been part of a group of mostly older adults who have made regular trips to the Capitol to push a bill known as the Medical Aid in Dying Act. It would allow terminally ill patients over the age of 18 to seek doctor approval to take prescribed medication to end their life. Read the full story on Gothamist.com