Vermont becomes America’s first ‘suicide tourism’ state
Vermont becomes America’s first ‘suicide tourism’ state: New bill allows terminally ill patients from anywhere in the US to take advantage of assisted dying law
Vermont on Tuesday became the first state in the US to remove the requirement that anyone seeking assisted suicide must be a resident of the state.
The state is one of ten states in the US that allows assisted suicide. The others are Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
The repeal of Vermont’s residency requirement, signed by Republican Governor Phil Scott, opens the door to a concept known as “suicide tourism,” which involves traveling to a jurisdiction where assisted suicide is legal.
Before Vermont lifted its residency requirement on Tuesday, it had a settlement agreement with a terminally ill woman from Connecticut allowing it her to benefit from Vermont law, provided she complies with other aspects of it.
US states are following Canada’s lead in liberalizing assisted-suicide laws into what critics call euthanasia for all.
Republican Chief Executive Phil Scott signed into law the bill that removes the residency requirement for the decades-old law