Gov. Kathy Hochul called the medical aid in dying act an “incredibly difficult decision.”

A controversial medical aid in dying bill that is to be signed into law in early January by Gov. Kathy Hochul is being called a “moral failure” by state Republicans.

On Wednesday, Hochul announced an agreement with the Legislature on the act. She said her decision to make the option available to terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live comes after careful reflection and deliberation with the bill’s sponsors, advocacy organizations, and everyday New Yorkers who shared personal experiences.

“My mother died of ALS, and I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and being powerless to stop it,” Hochul said. “Although this was an incredibly difficult decision, I ultimately determined that with the additional guardrails agreed upon with the legislature, this bill would allow New Yorkers to suffer less — to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”

As passed by the Legislature, the bill had a number of protections in place to ensure that no patient was coerced into utilizing medical aid in dying and no doctor or religiously affiliated health facility was forced to offer medical aid in dying.

Even so, the minority party within the state has been consistent in its dissent. “Governor Hochul’s decision to sign the assisted suicide bill is a profound moral failure,” said Ed Cox, state Republican party chairman. “At a moment when New Yorkers are struggling with isolation and mental health crises, she is choosing to tell the most vulnerable among us that their lives are expendable.

“This is not compassion, it’s abandonment. True leadership defends life, dignity and hope, even when it’s hard.”

With the agreement, Hochul announced a number of additional guardrails the Legislature has agreed to enact aimed at ensuring the integrity of the patient’s decision and the preparedness of institutions to appropriately administer medical aid in dying including:

— A mandatory waiting period of 5 days between when a prescription is written and filled.

— An oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio.

— A mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying by a psychologist or psychiatrist.

— A prohibition against anyone who may benefit financially from the death of a patient from being eligible to serve as a witness to the oral request or an interpreter for the patient.

— Limiting the availability of medical aid in dying to New York residents.

— Requiring that the initial evaluation of a patient by a physician be in person.

— Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying.

— Ensuring that a violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct under the Education Law.

— Extending the effective date of the bill to six months after signing to allow the Department of Health to put into place regulations required to implement the law while also ensuring that health care facilities can properly prepare and train staff for compliance.

Locally, both state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, R-Westfield, had previously indicated their opposition regarding the law. “You know, we have proposed a lot of irresponsible laws in the five-plus years that I have been here,” Borrello said in June. “We want to give the impression that New York is progressive and we have to do things further than any other state. And now we’re talking about giving people the right to commit suicide with the state’s sanction. And we’re still going to prove that we’re the most progressive. This bill is horribly irresponsible.”

Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski, who represents Gowanda, also was critical of the action. “This is an abominable decision that I fear will lead to the destruction of the most vulnerable among us, especially the developmentally disabled,” he said. “Every Republican in the state legislature and many Democrats of conscience voted against this legislation. What a horribly sad, disgraceful day for New York state.”

New York would be the 13th state where medical aid in dying would be authorized. Less than a week ago, Gov. JB Pritzker today signed the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act into law, in Illinois.

Managing editor John Whittaker contributed to this story.