Good morning. It’s Friday. Today we’ll look at New York’s new law legalizing physician-assisted suicide and a start-up that is already seeing patients.
On Aug. 5, New York became the 13th state to legalize medical aid in dying, allowing physicians to administer lethal medication to patients who have a terminal diagnosis and less than six months to live.
My colleague, Emma Goldberg, got to know the staff behind Quietus, which is believed to be the first organization of its kind in New York State to help patients fulfill the many legal and medical requirements for a death on their own terms.
The company is run by a group of physicians, including Tara Shapiro, who worked for over 30 years as a palliative care doctor and has witnessed hundreds of deaths. Nurses, psychologists and other staff members are also on the team, including a hospice social worker who was once a Buddhist monk and an internist who treats trauma patients with ketamine therapy.
Shapiro and her team of eight clinicians have had to tailor their treatment plan to the new law in New York State, which has among the strictest regulations of any state governing the practice of “medical aid in dying.” Patients must have a mental health screening and must have two physicians verify that they have six months or less to live. Once they get a prescription, they have to wait five days between getting the prescription and filling it.
For just under $12,000, Quietus provides medical consultations, psychological evaluations, logistical support and help for the grieving family after the death. It also provides the drugs: sedatives, morphine and lethal doses of cardiac medication.
Some medical ethicists like Lydia Dugdale have argued that the practice goes against the foundational ethics of the whole profession. “We are committed to health, restoration of health, helping our patients flourish even as their bodies decay,” she has said.
After all, critics have argued, one of the Hippocratic oath’s most sacred commands is to “give no deadly medicine.”
But for Shapiro, the new legislation paves a path forward for doctors to give the sickest of their patients a way out, a prospect that is favored by 60 percent of physicians, according to a national poll in 2019.
“The Hippocratic oath says do no harm,” Shapiro said. “And I don’t think we’re harming anyone by doing this. I think we’re actually being compassionate and relieving suffering.”
Still, the same poll found that only 13 percent of physicians would be willing to help their patients die. The stigma behind the upstart industry, despite its legalization, has been an obstacle that those at Quietus have had to navigate.
Before the law took effect, Daniel Cogan, the leader of Quietus and a nurse practitioner, called pharmacies around New York State, looking for a supplier for the large quantities of drugs they would need to end the lives of their patients.
Some became unsettled when he mentioned medical aid in dying. They said they weren’t involved with that sort of business.
Eventually, the group found a pharmacy in Midtown to supply lethal doses of the drugs.
The clinicians have also had to wrestle with deeper questions, like what they should do if a patient, in piercing pain, wants immediate relief.
On Aug. 5, Christian Zanartu packed a stethoscope, a laptop and a small, clip-on microphone in his bag. By law, one must record a video documenting the patient’s request to die.
He thought about the middle-aged woman with terminal cancer who had booked what is believed to be the first such appointment in New York State.
“This is so silly, I hate to put you through this, we have to do this,” he rehearsed saying.
On the car ride over, the internist, who had for years treated trauma patients, felt the weight of his duties set in.
“You’re representing relief, but you’re also representing horror,” Zanartu said. “You’re the solution and the nightmare.”
Medical aid in dying had come to Shapiro’s doorstep three years ago, long before she had joined Quietus.
Her mother-in-law, who had for years battled a degenerative muscle disease, had decided she was ready to die. So the family drove up to Vermont, where a law permitted physician-assisted suicide. They booked an Airbnb, invited a rabbi (and then a priest) and put on Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.”
Shapiro began to stir a lethal mixture of powders in apple juice. She handed the cup over to her mother-in-law.
About a year later, Shapiro saw her mother-in-law in a dream, eating at a banquet hall, and asked if they were in heaven.
“Just go get something to eat,” her mother-in-law said in the dream. “You’ll know when you’re ready.”
Weather
Today will be partly sunny with a high near 85 and chance of showers and thunderstorms. Clouds roll in tonight as temperatures drop near 68.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Monday (Labor Day).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Our cultural institutions, particularly those that receive funding from the City of New York, have a responsibility to demonstrate that hatred and bigotry carry consequences.” — Julie Menin, the City Council speaker, in a letter protesting the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s plan to honor John Galliano, the fashion designer who was convicted of an antisemitic hate crime, with a solo exhibition.
The latest Metro news
-
Subway explosion uncovers serious gaps in oversight: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector general said an audit of the 2024 electrical explosion at a substation in Downtown Brooklyn had found “systemwide failures” in oversight and maintenance of New York City’s trains.
-
New Jersey mayor’s wife injured during ICE chase: Dr. Penelope Cohen, who is married to the mayor of East Brunswick, was injured in a crash that happened when a vehicle being chased by ICE agents collided with hers on a busy highway.
-
Religious leaders apologize for appearing with Hindu nationalists: Progressive faith leaders said they had expected to discuss unity among religious groups at events including a Madison Square Garden gathering and had not been told that the events would honor the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, one of the world’s largest far-right organizations, and its polarizing leader, Mohan Bhagwat.
-
Snapshots of New York City life: The 100 cast members in Public Record, all amateurs ages 7 to 84, tell their stories as New Yorkers at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
-
Justice Department sides with OpenAI in copyright suit: The department argued in a court filing that OpenAI did not violate copyright law when it used articles by The New York Times to develop artificial intelligence systems. The filing was the first time the Justice Department weighed in on the use of copyrighted material by A.I. companies.
-
Conflict of interest: An internal investigation by The Athletic found that the relationship between Dianna Russini, its former senior N.F.L. reporter, and Mike Vrabel, the head coach of the New England Patriots, was a “clear violation” of the company’s standards.
-
Gloria Steinem has died: She was a feminist crusader who galvanized the modern women’s movement, helping millions of women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at home, at work and in society at large. Steinem was 92.
We want to hear from you about …
-
Israel, Gaza and Jewish identity: The New York Times wants to hear from Jewish New Yorkers about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how debates about the conflict in the Middle East have affected them over the past several years.
-
Yom Kippur: The Times wants to learn more about how American Jews of all backgrounds and commitments observe Yom Kippur.
METROPOLITAN diary
Bag check
Dear Diary:
Entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was directed to a table to have my bag checked.
The guard reached her stick into the bag and poked around for what seemed an inordinate amount of time.
“Is everything OK?” another guard asked.
“Yeah,” the first guard said. “I like the bag and I’m looking for the label.”
— Angel Zimick
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. — M.C.
Davaughnia Wilson and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
The post Medical Aid in Dying Comes to New York appeared first on New York Times.
