No shot at doc-aided suicide, yet
ALBANY — Legislation that would legalize physician-assisted suicide in New York is unlikely to be taken up by state lawmakers this year, legislative leaders indicated Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) said he did not support the measure and “can’t fathom a circumstance” in which the Senate would take action on it.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) also expressed reservations about the bill.
“I am not sure it can and will be done,” he said alongside Flanagan just outside Albany.
The two leaders’ remarks came on the same day that advocates for the bill rallied at the Capitol to press for its passage.
Known as the Medical Aid in Dying Act, the measure would make New York the seventh state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill adults who want to end their own lives. A FORMER PROSECUTOR running for Brooklyn district attorney received strong endorsements from a NAACP leader and a man wrongfully convicted of murder, the Daily News has learned.
Ama Dwimoh, 53, a veteran Brooklyn prosecutor under ex-DA Charles Hynes, got endorsements from Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, and Jabbar Collins, who was exonerated in 2010. Dwimoh is Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ special counsel and chief compliance and equal employment officer.
“Ama is the only candidate in the race for Brooklyn district attorney who truly understands the challenges facing our communities and who has the passion, experience and heart to deliver justice for all in Brooklyn,” Dukes said in a statement.
One of Dwimoh’s best-known cases in her 21-year career was the killing of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown.
The child’s mother Nixzaliz Santiago and stepfather Carlos Rodriguez were convicted of her 2006 death after the Administration for Children’s Services ignored complaints.
Dwimoh is “experienced, exceptionally qualified and relentless in her pursuit of justice, as she demonstrated in the Nixzmary Brown case,” said Collins, who made a $6,000 contribution to Dwimoh’s campaign.
She had received nearly $100,000 in contributions as of January, according to city records.
Other candidates for the seat include Acting DA Eric Gonzalez, former prosecutors Marc Fliedner, Anne Swern and Patricia Gatling as well as Councilman Vincent Gentile.