To the editor:

The New York Medical Aid in Dying Act is under active consideration in the Legislature, now that the budget has been adopted. In the month of March, there were six letters to the editor in this newspaper regarding this most important legislation, on March 11, 19, 23, 24, 26, and 29. You can find them in the Opinion section.

It is hard to think about dying, one’s own death or that of loved ones. However, it comes. This bill would give dying patients the opportunity to choose the timing of their death, to decide when pain, suffering and helplessness are no longer tolerable.

My sister used the Vermont Death with Dignity law to end her life five years ago, surrounded by loving family and friends. We each had the opportunity to toast her with champagne, to tell her we loved her and what she had meant to us. She, in turn, thanked us, said she was satisfied that she had had a wonderful life, and told us she loved us. We held her hands and touched her body as she slipped away. The option to have that kind of death was a blessing to her and to our family that I would wish everyone to have.

I invite you to read the letters, do whatever research you want, visit the website of Compassion and Choices, and make up your mind if you want your loved ones and yourself to have this option. Then, please, contact your legislators! You can determine your assemblyperson and senator by entering your address at nyassembly.gov and nysenate.gov, if you don’t already know them. Phone calls are best, even if you get an answering machine, because they get overwhelming numbers of emails. The numbers are as follows: Assembly District 115, Billy Jones, 518-562-1986; Assembly District 114, Matthew Simpson, 518-792-4546; Assembly District 118, Robert Smullen, 315-866-1632; Senate District 45, Daniel Stec, 518-743-0968; Senate District 49, James Tedesco, 518-855-1829.

Nancy Murphy

Vermontville