New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act has been in effect for a little over a month, and the state still will not say how many people used it.
However, Columbia bioethicist David Hoffman, who works with hospitals and groups implementing the statute, told the New York Sun that he estimates about 20 prescriptions for life-ending drugs have already gone out.
That figure comes from conversations with doctors, not an official Health Department count.
Physicians must report when they write a prescription, but they do not have to say whether the patient took it.
“The state will have the data on a rolling basis. It’s an after-the-fact analysis,” Hoffman told the paper.
The law took effect August 5, after Governor Kathy Hochul signed it in February.
New York is now the 14th U.S. jurisdiction with legalized assisted suicide.
