(HealthDay News) — Vermont is now allowing out-of-state residents to access medical aid in dying (MAID) within the state, the Associated Press reported.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill on May 2 removing a requirement that people seeking MAID in Vermont must be residents of the state.
Even before this requirement was removed, Vermont had reached a settlement with a Connecticut woman who was seeking MAID in Vermont due to terminal cancer. Lynda Bluestein became the first non-resident allowed to access MAID in Vermont.
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“We are grateful to Vermont lawmakers for recognizing that a state border shouldn’t determine if you die peacefully or in agony,” Kim Callinan, president and CEO of Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit advocacy organization, said in a statement. “Patients routinely travel to other states to utilize the best health care options. There is no rational reason they shouldn’t be able to travel to another state to access medical aid in dying if the state they live in doesn’t offer it.”
Ten US states and Washington, DC, currently allow MAID. Oregon, which legalized MAID in 1997, stopped enforcing its residency requirement in March 2022.
