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Newsweek
12-06-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Map Shows Assisted Dying Laws Across US
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. New York has recently joined a number of other U.S. states that have made assisted dying legal. The state's Senate approved a bill on Monday allowing constituents with terminal diagnoses to end their lives on their own terms, and the legislation is now headed to Governor Kathy Hochul for her to sign into law. There are currently 10 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have passed laws making medical assistance in dying (MAID) legal, according to Death With Dignity, and a number of others are considering similar legislation this year. Why It Matters Assisted dying laws are extremely divisive and are being considered and sworn into law in various countries across the globe. Those in favor say the legislation allows terminally ill individuals to seek medical assistance in ending their lives under specific conditions, promoting personal autonomy and a relief from suffering. Critics have voiced concern over suicide contagion, a phenomenon where increased exposure to suicide is believed to trigger suicidal behavior in others, and what the legislation means for the deaths of patients struggling with depression. What To Know In the U.S., California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington all have legislation in place that enables those in the states to access MAID. Oregon was one of the first countries in the world to establish this form of support for patients and did so in 1997. Since then, other assisted dying laws in the country have utilized the state's legal framework for their own MAID legislation, according to the BBC. New York is not the only state that has been eyeing such legislation, as more than 15 other states have also been deliberating MAID laws this year. These states include Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. In America, for a patient to have access to medically assisted dying, they typically have to be terminally ill and expected to die within six months, under the terms of the "Death with Dignity Act," according to an Oregon government report. They must also be over the age of 18 and capable of making and communicating health care decisions. A patient's request to access MAID services must also be approved by two doctors, and their request must be witnessed by two adults, who have no claim to any form of inheritance in the incidence of the patient's death. Should they feel it necessary, the doctors can refer the patient for a psychiatric evaluation. While MAID laws remain divisive, a Gallup poll conducted last year found that seven in 10 Americans, so 71 percent, believed medical doctors should be "allowed by law to end a patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it." What People Are Saying Professor Thaddeus Mason Pope, a professor of law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Minnesota, told Newsweek: "Millions of Americans die every year. Hospice and palliative care can address the physical and existential suffering of most but not all dying patients. MAID is for the small subset whose suffering is refractory to other measures." He added: "Nearly 20 states considered MAID legislation in 2025, and many of these bills made significant progress passing one or both legislative chambers. While fewer than 1 percent use MAID, nearly 75 percent of the public want to have this option. Decades of experience in other states shows a solid patient safety track record. Generally blue states pass MAID legislation and red ones do not. Few expect to see MAID authorized in the South or even the Midwest except for Illinois and Minnesota." Alan Meisel, professor of law Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Pennsylvania, told Newsweek: "Assisted dying laws allow people who are near the end of life to die in a dignified fashion, without being hooked up to medical machinery which only extends the process of dying, often in a painful way. People have understood how undignified the dying process can be and are seeking to implement laws that have proved highly successful in other states and countries." He added: "The states that have been hesitant to enact such laws are often those with large populations of people whose religious beliefs hold that a scintilla of life, no matter how painful or undignified, must be preserved at all costs. These people are often not in the majority but can be very vocal in opposing such laws and therefore state legislators can be reluctant to enact such laws, even though a majority may support them, because they are afraid of damage to their political careers." What Happens Next As a significant number of states are set to discuss possible MAID legislation in the coming months, there could be an increase in the legalization of the practice in America.
Boston Globe
18-02-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Hospitality at the end of life: Owners open their homes to terminally ill
Related : Advertisement A similar housing infrastructure for those wanting to die on their schedule is developing in Oregon, which lifted its assisted-dying law's residency requirement in July 2023, two months after Vermont. Of the 10 states and the District of Columbia that allow medically assisted dying, they are the only jurisdictions to have done so. Accommodations typically include extra rooms in private residences, and apartments or second homes that people have traditionally listed independently or through Airbnb or Vrbo. Few are like Suzanne's, specially designed for patients and the loved ones by their side when they die. What the properties have in common is that their owners support the death-with-dignity movement, which in 1997 led Oregon to become the first state to legalize medically assisted dying. Oregon's law, which became a template for other jurisdictions, included residency requirements in response to concerns the state would become a death destination, with bodies washing up on its beaches, recalled Peg Sandeen, CEO of the advocacy group Death With Dignity. That hasn't happened, and lawmakers in some states, including New York, are introducing assisted-dying bills without residency requirements. Montana, where a 2009 court ruling made the procedure legal, doesn't have clear-cut residency rules, but people tend not to go there as they do to Vermont and Oregon, according to the advocacy group Compassion and Choices. Advertisement When Vermont lifted its residency requirement, property owners wanting to open their homes to patients seeking medically assisted dying began contacting Patient Choices Vermont, the nonprofit that helped enact the assisted-dying law, known as Act 39. PCV has transitioned into a resource for end-of-life organizations in other states seeking clarity about the law, and everyone from physicians to patients navigating it in the state. The retreat overlooks a mountain range, seen in January. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist/For The Washington Post PCV's Wayfinders Network, an independent group of hospice nurses, case managers and death doulas, reaches out to doctors, hospices and social workers 'letting folks know we exist, and that people can get support,' said Kasey March, a network member and death doula whose services include companionship, comfort, education and guidance to people at end of life. Terminally ill patients ending their lives prefer the comfort and privacy of a home over a hotel, said March, who keeps a list of four or five accommodations and is always looking for more. She learns about them from friends, acquaintances and fellow Wayfinders. 'You want somewhere that no one is going to knock on your door and ask what's going on and make you feel uncomfortable in some way, shape or form,' she said. Price, availability and location vary. Most people seeking medical aid in dying have mobility challenges and seek accessible accommodations close to urban centers, PCV President Betsy Walkerman said. Cindy, a consultant who lives on the top floor of a two-story duplex in Burlington, Vermont, and whose full name is not being used for privacy reasons, discounts her short-term rental rate for those using the ground floor for Act 39. 'I would not want money to be an issue, so I just make it work,' she said. Advertisement Suzanne works on an offering system — if someone makes a donation, she puts the money back into the property, building the infrastructure for future patients. According to the Vermont Department of Health, as of June, at least 26 people had traveled to the state to die, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the reported assisted deaths there since May 2023. Suzanne hosted three; Cindy, two. Cindy has another scheduled for late January. As with others in their situation, neither lists their space as an assisted-dying destination because they can host only someone who has met strict eligibility criteria, including having less than six months to live. Only a doctor in Vermont can make that determination, and a second consulting doctor has to confirm it. 'The doctors are the ones who are the sentries at the gate,' Suzanne said. 'If you don't have a doctor or meet the eligibility requirements, you can't voluntarily die using Act 39 in Vermont.' Suzanne says she feels this painting symbolizes the mission and purpose of her retreat space. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist/For The Washington Post As with many states, Vermont has a doctor shortage that can make it hard even for in-state residents to obtain care. Finding a Vermont physician from out of state is even more challenging, as a family that used Suzanne's center last summer discovered. For a month in early summer 2024, the younger daughter, who lives in a western state and asked that her family name not be used for privacy reasons, called at least a dozen palliative care clinics in Vermont and Oregon for her father, 78, who was dying of cancer. The earliest appointment was in September, in Vermont. She wasn't sure her father would live that long, and he'd made it clear he did not want to die in a hospital, surrounded by strangers. Advertisement When she learned that a palliative clinic in Vermont had an opening in August, the family flew there, and the father was approved. The doctor and clinic program director provided Suzanne's contact information and also suggested the family call hotels and Airbnbs and be up front about booking a room. The daughter called Suzanne first. 'I'm so grateful I didn't have to make any of those phone calls saying, 'I need to make a reservation for someone to die here,'' she said. Two weeks later, the family returned to Vermont for the father to die. He and his wife stayed at Suzanne's. Their adult daughters, son-in-law, and granddaughter stayed at a hotel five minutes away. 'Suzanne was very accommodating,' the man's wife said — she gave the family free run of her house adjacent to the center, installed a full-size bed in front of the picture window so the couple could enjoy the view while they rested together, and welcomed the rescue dog the older daughter had brought for emotional support. 'I was able to spend the last night with him,' the man's wife recalled. 'The view was amazing — there's butterflies all over, there's hummingbirds, there's a gazebo on the property. You can see the hills from the big window. We said afterwards, 'It's exactly what he wanted — other than being in his own home.''
