By Barak Wolff
As New Mexico celebrates the fifth Anniversary since the passage of the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act in June 2021, it seemed like an appropriate time to review how the law that authorized medical aid-in-dying (MAiD) has been implemented. Unfortunately, the New Mexico Department of Health has not yet issued the required annual reports, although they have collected some limited data from prescribing clinicians, as required by the law. However, an informal tally of medical aid-in-dying cases, submitted voluntarily to End of Life Options New Mexico, suggests that in its first five years about 1,150 New Mexicans have utilized the law.
In addition, the Academy of Aid-In-Dying Medicine (Academy), a national nonprofit organization committed to educating clinicians about end-of-life care options and medical aid-in-dying, maintains a voluntary database of demographic and clinical information on patients who have utilized MAiD. This data is collected from clinicians in states that have enacted medical aid-in-dying laws. Recently, End of Life Options New Mexico (EOLONM) collaborated with one of the Academy’s founders, Dr. Lonny Shavelson, to review their New Mexico data.
New Mexico’s successful implementation has been supported by a legislative framework that reduces barriers as well as by the growing network of clinicians who are dedicated to compassionate end of life care.
On May 8, 2026, Dr. Shavelson presented his findings and observations in the second edition of the EOLONM Speaker Series. A recording of that zoom presentation is on the EOLONM website here and is available for viewing.
Hightlights and Data
A few highlights from the Academy’s data include:
- From the database’s inception in July 2020 through April 2026, clinicians submitted anonymized data on more than 3,100 patients who utilized legal medical-aid-in-dying to hasten death across 10 states plus the District of Columbia.
- Of those 3,100 submissions, 772 came from New Mexico clinicians, accounting for almost 25% of total submissions, second only to California.
- The cases from New Mexico were submitted voluntarily by 32 unique providers who were based primarily in Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties; however, providers submitting data represented a total of 11 New Mexico counties.
- The charts below show New Mexico data collected by the Academy compared to the rest of the states where MAiD is legal. This includes gender, hospice enrollment status, age, and terminal diagnosis.
In his zoom presentation, Dr. Shavelson shared several interesting findings about New Mexico. For example, New Mexico has the highest percentage of deaths (about 95%) that were attended at the bedside by clinicians. Also, patients’ time to death from MAiD in New Mexico tended to be faster, on average, than in other states.
Looking Ahead
Dr. Shavelson highlighted how New Mexico’s successful implementation has been supported by a legislative framework that reduces barriers as well as support from a growing network of clinicians who are dedicated to compassionate end of life care.
End of Life Options New Mexico has made great progress in the first five years educating New Mexicans about advance healthcare planning, end of life care options and the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act. We continue the work to fulfill our mission to provide information and support about all end-of-life care options, including medical aid in dying.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Related Resources
To learn more about the Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine findings, watch Dr. Lonny Shavelson’s presentation from the EOLONM Speaker Series, where he discusses New Mexico’s experience in the context of national trends. You can also explore additional educational resources and recordings in our Speaker Series archive.