Doctor with ALS Says Access to Medical Aid in Dying ‘Freed’ Him from ‘Immeasurable Fear and Dread’: ‘Enough Is Enough’

A New York City doctor with a terminal illness is opening up about feeling “freed” after knowing he will have access to medical aid in dying.

In August 2023, Dr. Jeremy Boal — chief clinical officer for Mount Sinai Health System — started experiencing unusual leg spasms. After the symptoms worsened, he decided to see a doctor.

Following an appointment with a neurologist and several MRIs, Boal, then 56, recalled the moment his doctor “uttered my death sentence.” He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

“I felt as if I had just been told not only that I would die, but that I would be tortured to death, and that it would drag out over several years,” he told Reason TV. “I’ve cared for all sorts of people with terminal illnesses, and I couldn’t imagine a more horrific disease to die from than ALS.”

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare degenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles. Patients first experience twitching or weakness in a limb, often followed by slurred speech. According to the Mayo Clinic, because the disease affects the nerve cells in the brain and spine that control muscle movement, patients slowly lose their ability to speak, eat, walk, and breathe independently.

There’s no cure for ALS, and people usually live three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

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“When I got my diagnosis, I had a vision of my own death: I would be choking on my own saliva, gasping for air, unable to communicate my needs, my eyes filling with panic, as my family and friends looked on helplessly,” Boal explained.

“Every waking moment, I veered between an overwhelming sense of dread and near-total panic,” he said. “But I came to realize that I didn’t fear death; I feared being imprisoned in a body that had died around me.”

Despite the grim news, a year after his diagnosis, Boal said the joy returned to his life. Not only from his loved ones and therapy, but thanks to the knowledge that he can end his own life with medical aid in dying “when my suffering becomes unbearable.”

With MAID, terminally ill adults who are of sound mind and have been approved by at least two doctors can receive a prescription for a lethal medication. It is different from euthanasia because the patients themselves administer prescribed drugs to end their lives, rather than a doctor.

MAID laws have been authorized in California, Colorado, Oregon, Illinois, Washington, Montana, Hawaii, Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington D.C.

In December 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced an agreement with the state’s legislative leaders to make MAID available. She expressed her intent to sign the bill with proposed amendments to the bill. If the bill passes, it would make New York the twelfth state to allow terminally ill people to choose medical aid in dying.

Boal told the outlet that he was initially prepared to move to another state if he didn’t have access to MAID, but he’s at “peace” knowing he’ll die on his own terms.

“Once MAID becomes legal in New York in 2026, I will have the privilege of creating the exact conditions I want for my own death,” he shared. “I want to be out in the field with our animals, watching tree swallows and bluebirds fly in and out of their boxes. I want my wife and my daughters by my side.”

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Addressing those who are against MAID laws, Boal said that having the choice to end his own life has “freed” him from the excruciating death he would have otherwise due to ALS.

“I have an excellent palliative care physician. When I qualify for hospice care, I will gratefully receive it. But I know that, even with the very best of these services, there is no therapeutic path to free me from becoming completely locked in,” he explained. “Knowing that I can avail myself of MAID when I decide that enough is enough has freed me of immeasurable degrees of fear and dread. It has allowed me to get back to living and to make the most of the time I have left.”

“MAID gave me the freedom to determine my own fate, and today I’m living more vibrantly than I could have imagined on that horrible Friday morning in my neurologist’s office,” he told the outlet. “I meditate. I exercise carefully. I spend time with my wife and daughters, extended family, and friends. I laugh. I advocate. I build fences. I rest in the sun. I savor good meals. I watch every bird that lands on this property as if it’s the first one I’ve ever seen.”