If you’ve been following the news, you already know that life, and all those of us who cherish it, have been dealt a serious blow this week.  

Even if you’ve been too disturbed to follow all the headlines over the years, you probably know that on April 12, 2019, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy approved the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act.  This Act, which passed the State Legislature by a single vote, should more accurately called the “New Jersey Physician-Assisted Suicide Act.” It essentially gives doctors carte blanche to write a prescription for drugs to end their patients’ lives.

This dangerous new law came into effect on August 1, 2019.

What happens now is up to us.  If nobody stops the act from being put into effect, New Jersey citizens can actually begin dying pursuant to its provisions as early as August 16, 2019.  

But we’ve chosen to fight. We believe that not only was the passage of the Act itself (by a single vote) flawed, but the state has not even met its own requirements.  That’s because no rules were ever put into place about how to apply the new law.  

Before the Act went into effect on August 1st, the state was supposed to have no fewer than six (6) regulatory bodies issue rules and regulations describing how the law was to be applied.  However, no such required regulations or rules have been issued. This leaves the entire death process in the State of New Jersey entirely unregulated.

The Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ), the oldest professional society in the United States, with over 6,500 members, fought the new law.  On July 31st, the day before the new law went into effect, they stated that “MSNJ remains opposed to physicians hastening the death of a patient.”  They are also concerned about the coercion physicians and nurse practitioners may feel from patients, relatives, and others to provide deadly prescriptions – and eroding the trust between caregiver and patient.

Physicians and other healthcare practitioners who value life above all, along with individuals who believe in the inherent value of every life, must step up to challenge the new law on spiritual, ethical, and legal grounds.

What happens now is up to us:  me and you, together.  

As a spiritual person as well as an attorney, I have taken on this cause personally and professionally. 

If you’re troubled by unregulated caregivers taking life and death into their own hands, I hope you will join me in this important fight.  For more information on restoring justice, dignity, and the sanctity of life to the people of New Jersey, please contact me.

973-365-2770

edsmith@edslaw.net