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New York Times praises assisted suicide start-up as 'a one-stop shop'
New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act, signed in February by Governor Kathy Hochul and taking effect on August 5, legalized assisted suicide in the state. And already, The New York Times is featuring the first start-up business to begin selling death, promoting the company as "a one-stop shop" for assisted suicide.
New York legalized assisted death in 2026 and the law took effect on August 5.
The New York Times is sharing the story of an assisted suicide startup company in the state, Quiĕtus.
The business has nine members, including a former Buddhist monk, a palliative care doctor, a cardiologist, and a nurse practitioner.
The Times hailed the business as "a one-stop shop" for assisted suicide that offers people a "better death."
The New York Times shared the stories of medical professionals who have "decided to create a practice to help their clients die...." It claimed, "You can think of it as a start-up for better deaths."
Suicide, however, is not a "better death" — it's a tragic disservice to people who feel that their lives aren't worth living, who struggle with being seen as a burden, or who may have lost hope. Helping people to carry out suicide is not health care.
But, under the guise of care, the new company, Quiĕtus, is aiming to be a central hub for people who want to die but must meet the legal and medical requirements — including two medical evaluations, a mental health screening, and a prescription for the deadly cocktail that includes sedatives, morphine, and a cardiac drug.
The Times calls it "a one-stop shop ... where people can get help meeting every legal and medical requirement for a death on their own terms."
Nine medical professionals work on the Quiĕtus team, including:
Dr. Tara Shapiro, whose mother-in-law died by assisted suicide and whose sister died from complications related to Trisomy 18 when she was two years old. Shapiro was 11 when her sister died. "We were told she went to heaven. But I didn't really have a sense why," she said. She also lost her nephew when he was 21, and The Times said these deaths "made her quietly obsessive about comforting the dying."
She credits her decision to become a palliative care doctor to these experiences. And she said her mother-in-law's death "turned her inside out." The Times wrote about Shapiro, "After three decades of working in hospitals, what did it mean to go from fighting off death to speeding it up? What did this mean in terms of the Hippocratic oath, that ancient and often misquoted text meant to guide the profession, with its unsubtle command to 'give no deadly medicine'?"
David Atkins, a hospice social worker who is a former Buddhist monk who wants to "care" for the dying. Buddhists are against causing suffering, even to a fly, wrote The Times in an attempt to get the reader on board with the false idea that helping someone die is morally acceptable and even good.
Christian Zanartu, a palliative care doctor
Daniel Cogan, a nurse practitioner who has a history of working with patients who have chronic pain
Dr. Rob Siegel, a cardiologist
The Times wrote:
For months, these doctors and nurses and clinicians met to figure out what it would take to set up their aid-in-dying practice, taking on seemingly unsayable questions. How on earth would they spread the word about their new clinic? Did they need business cards? How much should a patient have to pay?
There was also the question of hours — whether they would be available at all times, even if a person called wanting to die at two in the morning.
"Mr. Cogan," reported The Times, "felt strongly that taking responsibility for a person’s death meant being available. He imagined a scenario in which a patient suddenly began to feel piercing pain in the night and wanted to die. Shouldn’t the doctors leap into action to deliver on their promise of a controlled death?"
Dr. Zanartu, however, felt that if they didn't stick to a schedule they would be at risk of burnout. “Can they wait until 8 a.m.? I think they can,” he said. “I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to establish some boundaries.”
They have yet to agree, according to The Times, which failed to note that a person's middle-of-the-night phone call asking to die could signal a mental health crisis.
As with any startup, Quiĕtus staff aren't sure how many customers they will get. The Times notes that when New Jersey legalized assisted death in August 2019, 12 people were prescribed the drugs through the end of the year. But the next year, it was 101 people — with 91 actually consuming the drugs. But they know there are many people who will request help to die who won't meet the requirements.
As Cogan said, "If somebody is like, I’m paraplegic and the doctor says I might live for years but I want to kill myself, can you help me? — the short answer is, I have tremendous sympathy for your situation, and tell me more about what’s going on, but these are the terms of the law."
For now anyway.
In Canada, assisted suicide is offered with shocking consistency, even to people who aren't dying. As a nation with government run health care, sometimes the government would rather pay a little to kill you now than a lot to help you live. A report from the government proved it.
In California, where assisted suicide was legalized in 2016, people have reported receiving pressure to die from their insurance companies.
The total cost to die with Quiĕtus is about $12,000. Compared to hundreds of thousands in chronic illness treatments, chemotherapy, surgeries, and lifelong medications, it's more cost effective for insurance companies to kill a patient. And with the uptick in interest, the suicide business would make more money if more people could be approved under broadened regulations.
And what does it mean to 'help people meet every legal and medical requirement for death'? Are Quiĕtus members going to help people die by being strategic in their paperwork?
Under the current New York law, and most assisted death laws, a medical professional or two must say that your life is not worth living. They must confirm a suicidal person's darkest thoughts about themselves, their value as a human being, and their fears of being a burden.
Quiĕtus secured their first client on August 5, the day the law went into effect. She was a middle-aged woman with cancer. After meeting with her, Dr. Zanartu felt the realization of what he was doing.
"You’re representing relief, but you’re also representing horror. You’re the solution and the nightmare," he said.
Because a middle-aged woman likely doesn't actually want to die.
Building a business on helping people commit suicide is indeed dark.
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, yet The Times is using it to promote suicide to certain people as a way to escape what any ableist must assume to be a meaningless existence.
Celebrating legalized assisted death, especially during Suicide Prevention Month, means that the young healthy girl on the side of a bridge should be saved from suicide, pulled back from the edge. But the middle-aged cancer patient? She can apparently be pushed off the ledge, so to speak.
As described by Medical News Today, "Medicine is the field of health and healing. ... Medicine aims to promote and maintain health and wellbeing."
Killing someone at an extremely vulnerable time in his or her life by prescribing drugs to end life is not the promotion of heath and wellbeing. It does not heal. It sends the message that certain people are no longer welcome here and confirms their fears that they would be better off dead.
After all, people trust doctors to tell them what's best for their bodies, and the doctors and medical professionals of Quiĕtus, and across New York, have been given the authority to tell patients they are right to want to kill themselves — and then give them the drugs to do it.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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·New York Times praises assisted suicide start-up as 'a one-stop shop'
New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act, signed in February by Governor Kathy Hochul and taking effect on August 5, legalized assisted suicide in the state. And already, The New York Times is featuring the first start-up business to begin selling death, promoting the company as "a one-stop shop" for assisted suicide.
New York legalized assisted death in 2026 and the law took effect on August 5.
The New York Times is sharing the story of an assisted suicide startup company in the state, Quiĕtus.
The business has nine members, including a former Buddhist monk, a palliative care doctor, a cardiologist, and a nurse practitioner.
The Times hailed the business as "a one-stop shop" for assisted suicide that offers people a "better death."
The New York Times shared the stories of medical professionals who have "decided to create a practice to help their clients die...." It claimed, "You can think of it as a start-up for better deaths."
Suicide, however, is not a "better death" — it's a tragic disservice to people who feel that their lives aren't worth living, who struggle with being seen as a burden, or who may have lost hope. Helping people to carry out suicide is not health care.
But, under the guise of care, the new company, Quiĕtus, is aiming to be a central hub for people who want to die but must meet the legal and medical requirements — including two medical evaluations, a mental health screening, and a prescription for the deadly cocktail that includes sedatives, morphine, and a cardiac drug.
The Times calls it "a one-stop shop ... where people can get help meeting every legal and medical requirement for a death on their own terms."
Nine medical professionals work on the Quiĕtus team, including:
Dr. Tara Shapiro, whose mother-in-law died by assisted suicide and whose sister died from complications related to Trisomy 18 when she was two years old. Shapiro was 11 when her sister died. "We were told she went to heaven. But I didn't really have a sense why," she said. She also lost her nephew when he was 21, and The Times said these deaths "made her quietly obsessive about comforting the dying."
She credits her decision to become a palliative care doctor to these experiences. And she said her mother-in-law's death "turned her inside out." The Times wrote about Shapiro, "After three decades of working in hospitals, what did it mean to go from fighting off death to speeding it up? What did this mean in terms of the Hippocratic oath, that ancient and often misquoted text meant to guide the profession, with its unsubtle command to 'give no deadly medicine'?"
David Atkins, a hospice social worker who is a former Buddhist monk who wants to "care" for the dying. Buddhists are against causing suffering, even to a fly, wrote The Times in an attempt to get the reader on board with the false idea that helping someone die is morally acceptable and even good.
Christian Zanartu, a palliative care doctor
Daniel Cogan, a nurse practitioner who has a history of working with patients who have chronic pain
Dr. Rob Siegel, a cardiologist
The Times wrote:
For months, these doctors and nurses and clinicians met to figure out what it would take to set up their aid-in-dying practice, taking on seemingly unsayable questions. How on earth would they spread the word about their new clinic? Did they need business cards? How much should a patient have to pay?
There was also the question of hours — whether they would be available at all times, even if a person called wanting to die at two in the morning.
"Mr. Cogan," reported The Times, "felt strongly that taking responsibility for a person’s death meant being available. He imagined a scenario in which a patient suddenly began to feel piercing pain in the night and wanted to die. Shouldn’t the doctors leap into action to deliver on their promise of a controlled death?"
Dr. Zanartu, however, felt that if they didn't stick to a schedule they would be at risk of burnout. “Can they wait until 8 a.m.? I think they can,” he said. “I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to establish some boundaries.”
They have yet to agree, according to The Times, which failed to note that a person's middle-of-the-night phone call asking to die could signal a mental health crisis.
As with any startup, Quiĕtus staff aren't sure how many customers they will get. The Times notes that when New Jersey legalized assisted death in August 2019, 12 people were prescribed the drugs through the end of the year. But the next year, it was 101 people — with 91 actually consuming the drugs. But they know there are many people who will request help to die who won't meet the requirements.
As Cogan said, "If somebody is like, I’m paraplegic and the doctor says I might live for years but I want to kill myself, can you help me? — the short answer is, I have tremendous sympathy for your situation, and tell me more about what’s going on, but these are the terms of the law."
For now anyway.
In Canada, assisted suicide is offered with shocking consistency, even to people who aren't dying. As a nation with government run health care, sometimes the government would rather pay a little to kill you now than a lot to help you live. A report from the government proved it.
In California, where assisted suicide was legalized in 2016, people have reported receiving pressure to die from their insurance companies.
The total cost to die with Quiĕtus is about $12,000. Compared to hundreds of thousands in chronic illness treatments, chemotherapy, surgeries, and lifelong medications, it's more cost effective for insurance companies to kill a patient. And with the uptick in interest, the suicide business would make more money if more people could be approved under broadened regulations.
And what does it mean to 'help people meet every legal and medical requirement for death'? Are Quiĕtus members going to help people die by being strategic in their paperwork?
Under the current New York law, and most assisted death laws, a medical professional or two must say that your life is not worth living. They must confirm a suicidal person's darkest thoughts about themselves, their value as a human being, and their fears of being a burden.
Quiĕtus secured their first client on August 5, the day the law went into effect. She was a middle-aged woman with cancer. After meeting with her, Dr. Zanartu felt the realization of what he was doing.
"You’re representing relief, but you’re also representing horror. You’re the solution and the nightmare," he said.
Because a middle-aged woman likely doesn't actually want to die.
Building a business on helping people commit suicide is indeed dark.
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, yet The Times is using it to promote suicide to certain people as a way to escape what any ableist must assume to be a meaningless existence.
Celebrating legalized assisted death, especially during Suicide Prevention Month, means that the young healthy girl on the side of a bridge should be saved from suicide, pulled back from the edge. But the middle-aged cancer patient? She can apparently be pushed off the ledge, so to speak.
As described by Medical News Today, "Medicine is the field of health and healing. ... Medicine aims to promote and maintain health and wellbeing."
Killing someone at an extremely vulnerable time in his or her life by prescribing drugs to end life is not the promotion of heath and wellbeing. It does not heal. It sends the message that certain people are no longer welcome here and confirms their fears that they would be better off dead.
After all, people trust doctors to tell them what's best for their bodies, and the doctors and medical professionals of Quiĕtus, and across New York, have been given the authority to tell patients they are right to want to kill themselves — and then give them the drugs to do it.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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