Health & Environment Quiet since Aug 6 Updated Aug 6, 2026
The right-to-die law
New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act took effect Aug. 5, letting terminally ill adults with six months or less to live request lethal medication after two physicians sign off and a five-day waiting period, making New York the 13th US jurisdiction to allow it. Four orders of Catholic nuns and other Catholic ministries are suing over the law's opt-out rules even as the state has granted them a temporary exemption, and hospitals are still awaiting state Health Department guidance on how to participate. The fight is over how broadly religious objectors can refuse participation and how the law funct
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Aug 6, 2026 Latest
New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act took effect Aug. 5, letting terminally ill adults with six months or less to live request lethal medication after two physicians sign off and a five-day waiting period, making New York the 13th jurisdiction nationally to allow it. Four orders of Catholic nuns and other Catholic ministries sued over the law's opt-out rules, though the state granted them a temporary exemption while the case proceeds, and a judge already denied standing to a separate disability-rights lawsuit seeking to block the law.
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