A Conversation With Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried on the Eve of His Retirement From Public Office

Written By Robert N. Swidler

In 2022, Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried, New York’s longest-serving legislator and the Chair of the Assembly Health Committee since 1987, announced he had decided not to run for reelection. To mark the occasion, on November 3, 2022, the New York State Bar Association’s Health Law Session held a full-day program to examine the impact of Assemblymember Gottfried’s impact on New York’s health care delivery system. The program focused on the Assemblymember’s contributions in four areas: (i) health care access; (ii) civil liberties; (iii) health care decision making; and (iv) health care oversight.

At the end of the program, Robert N. Swidler, who had worked with the Assemblymember and his staff on New York’s Family Health Care Decisions Act and several other legislative initiatives, sat down with Assemblymember Gottfried to ask a few questions.1 The following is a transcript of the interview

A Conversation With Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried on the Eve of His Retirement From Public Office
 
Robert N. Swidler

Robert N. Swidler is General Counsel to both St. Peter’s Health Partners and St. Joseph’s Health, not-for-profit healthcare systems in New York’s Capital and Central Regions. Previously, he was Counsel to the NYS Task Force on Life and the Law, Assistant Counsel to Governor Mario Cuomo and Counsel to the NYS Office of Mental Health. Robert played a key role in the development of NY’s Health Care Proxy Law and Family Health Care Decisions Act, and has written over 30 published articles and book chapters on health law, policy and ethics. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Alden March Bioethics Center at Albany Medical College.

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