Conn. woman 1st non-Vermonter granted assisted suicide right
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Lynda Bluestein has terminal cancer and knows she’ll die soon, but until Tuesday, she didn’t know if she’d be able to choose how or when and whether her family would be with her when the time comes.
The 75-year-old from Bridgeport, Connecticut, reached a settlement with the state of Vermont that will allow her to be the first non-resident to take advantage of its decadeold law that allows people who are terminally ill to end their own lives.
“I was so relieved to hear of the settlement of my case that will allow me to decide when cancer has taken all from me that I can bear,” said Bluestein, 75, who has fallopian tube cancer. “The importance of the peace of mind knowing that I will now face fewer obstacles in accessing the autonomy, control, and choice in this private, sacred and very personal decision about the end of my life is enormous.”
Vermont is one of 10 states that allow medically assisted suicide, but only one, Oregon, allows non-residents to do it. Bluestein’s settlement and pending legislation that would remove Vermont’s residency requirement offer a ray of hope to other terminally ill patients who want to control how and when they die.
Bluestein and Diana Barnard, a physician from Middlebury, sued Vermont last summer, claiming its residency requirement violates the Constitution’s commerce, equal protection, and privileges and immunities clauses.
Barnard, who specializes in hospice and palliative care and who has patients from neighboring New York state, which, like Connecticut, doesn’t allow medically assisted suicide, lauded the settlement and called on the Vermont Legislature to repeal the residency requirement.
“I am grateful that Lynda will be able to now access medical aid in dying without completely upending her final months. … There is no good reason that non-residents should not be able to use Vermont’s medical aid-in-dying law that has eased the suffering of numerous terminally ill Vermonters since it took effect a decade ago,” Barnard said in a news release issued by Compassion & Choices, which filed the suit on behalf of Bluestein and Barnard and describes itself as a group that “expands options and empowers everyone to chart their end-of-life journey.”
The Vermont attorney general’s office said it was pleased to have reached an agreement.
“We hope that this settlement will help those involved as they navigate important decisions around end-of-life care,” said chief of staff Lauren Jandl.
Bluestein, who has had three different cancer diagnoses in a short time, said she knew she had to do something so that her death wouldn’t be like that of her mother, who died in a hospital bed after a prolonged illness. She decided she wanted to die surrounded by her husband, children, grandchildren, wonderful neighbors, friends and dog.
“I wanted to have a death that was meaningful, but that it didn’t take forever … for me to die,” she said.
Vermont’s law allows physicians to prescribe lethal medication to state residents with an incurable illness that is expected to kill them within six months. If the Democratic-led state Senate approves the current legislation and it is signed by Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who supports the concept, Vermont would become the second state to allow non-residents who are terminally ill to end their own lives.