NY Daily News: Opinion: Let terminally ill New Yorkers choose to die
May 12, 2022 New York New York Medical Aid in Dying Act
An excerpt from the Daily News opinion piece, “Let terminally ill New Yorkers choose to die,” by Amy Eilert and Daren Eilert, published May 12, 2021:
"Imagine you are proud parents of a vibrant 23-year-old daughter living her dream as a ballet dancer, painter and certified yoga instructor in the world’s greatest city, New York. Then, less than a year later, she dies an agonizing death at age 24 from an aggressive tongue cancer that spread like wildfire throughout her body, despite her receiving the best treatment and palliative care available.
Our daughter, Ayla Rain Eilert, died April 2 without the one end-of-life care option she begged for in the last weeks of life that could have allowed her to pass peacefully: medical aid in dying. Tragically, this option is only available in Washington, D.C., and 10 states, including New Jersey and Vermont, but not New York…
If Ayla had been afforded the option of medical aid in dying, she could have avoided weeks of needless suffering and those last excruciating moments. No parent should have to witness their child pointlessly suffer while begging for help to die.
In her honor and in her memory, we will keep prodding New York lawmakers to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act until they find the willpower to do it."
