Vermont rewrites law to offer assisted suicide to non-residents

 

null / Video_Creative / Shutterstock.

Boston, Mass., May 3, 2023 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Republican Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont signed a bill Tuesday allowing non-residents to avail themselves of the state’s assisted suicide law.

Vermont legalized assisted suicide in 2013, but with this new law became the first state in the nation to change its legislation to allow the life-ending procedure to those living out of state, according to the Associated Press.

Oregon stopped enforcing its residency requirement for assisted suicide in 2022 but has not enshrined that provision in law.

Earlier this year Vermont reached a settlement with a Connecticut woman who had sued the state over its residency requirement for assisted suicide.

According to the Vermont Department of Health, assisted suicide is available for those “suffering from an incurable and irreversible disease” that will end the patient’s life within six months.

After a doctor determines death is imminent, a patient must make an oral and written request for the lethal dosage. There must be two people over the age of 18 who sign the written request as witnesses to affirm that “the patient appeared to understand the nature of the document and to be free from duress or undue influence at the time the request was signed,” the law says.

Participation in assisted suicide by any physician, nurse, or pharmacist must be “completely voluntary,” according to the state’s Department of Health.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized assisted suicide across the country and 12 states are considering legislation in 2023.

See CNA article for interactive map.

In 2015, the state Legislature signed a bill mandating the Department of Health to make a biennial report of assisted suicide statistics.

Twenty-nine people sought assisted suicide from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2021, according to the Vermont Department of Health’s 2022 report. The report said that not all 29 filled the prescription though. The department uses an electronic data system to collect information about prescriptions.

From May 31, 2013, to June 30, 2021, 116 people sought assisted suicide in Vermont, the report said.

CNA reached out to the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, for comment, but did not immediately hear back by time of publication.


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Catholic News Agency 12447 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

1 Comment

  1. Blue states are becoming Death States, where the unborn, the infirm and the elderly are forced onto the conveyor belt of death.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*