On Tuesday, a Vermont legislative committee unanimously passed a bill that would allow nonresidents to seek medically assisted suicide in the state. This would make Vermont the second state in the U.S. to remove the residency requirement for assisted suicide. The House Human Services Committee approved the measure, and a similar bill is under consideration in the Senate.
Both legislative chambers would need to approve the bill for it to become law. Oregon currently allows terminally ill people to receive lethal medication without being a resident of the state. The Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Medical Board settled in federal court last year, agreeing to stop enforcing the residency requirement and urging the Legislature to remove it from the law.
Advocates plan to use the settlement to persuade the other eight states and Washington, D.C. that have medically assisted suicide laws to eliminate residency requirements. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington, and Vermont have approved similar laws.
