Steve Goldenberg, Sara Myers and Eric Seiff—who are dying from AIDS, ALS, and bladder cancer, respectively—argue a mentally competent patient choosing a peaceful death is not suicide under New York’s assisted suicide statute. So far, no doctors have been prosecuted under the statute.
Nevertheless, a representative from End of Life Choices in New York, one of the many organizations that joined the patients as plaintiffs in the suit, estimates that if the lawsuit is successful, between 200 and 300 New Yorkers who die from illness each year may opt for life-ending medication.