Sullivan native to fight doctor-assisted suicide

Posted 8/21/12

ALBANY, NY — J.J. Hanson, who grew up in the Town of Highland and served in the administrations of former governors Elliot Spitzer and David Patterson, is now spearheading the fight to prevent the …

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Sullivan native to fight doctor-assisted suicide

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ALBANY, NY — J.J. Hanson, who grew up in the Town of Highland and served in the administrations of former governors Elliot Spitzer and David Patterson, is now spearheading the fight to prevent the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide in New York State.

Hanson is now president of the Patients Rights Action Fund, which opposes doctor-assisted suicide. According to an article in the New York Daily News, last year Hanson was diagnosed with brain cancer; it was the same disease that Brittany Maynard contracted. Maynard made headlines when she moved from California to Oregon to make use of that state’s Death with Dignity Act. She ended her life on November 1, 2014.

Hanson told the newspaper, “I saw it as a bad example for others who had this form of brain cancer.” He said doctors twice told him he was near the end of his life, but he has been able to manage the disease.

Earlier this month, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law that state’s End of Life Act, and California became the fifth state to legalize doctor-assisted suicide, joining Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.

In signing the law, Brown wrote, “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.”

The debate over doctor-assisted suicide is expected to play out in New York State, as lawmakers earlier this year introduced a Death with Dignity measure.

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