On May 20, 2013, Act 39, Vermont Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act went into effect when Governor Shumlin signed it into law. Patient Choices Vermont leads Vermont-based efforts to implement the law. The law was further improved in 2022.
On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H. 190, removing the residency requirement from the state’s medical aid-in-dying law. This signing is the culmination of over a year of hard work by our partners at Patient Choices Vermont and our legal team.
Patient Choices Vermont is a 501c3 organization that educates Vermonters on medical aid in dying and patient choice.
Compassion & Choices and Patient Choices Vermont today filed a motion to strike from the court record the state’s Consent Agreement with physician plaintiffs in a dismissed federal lawsuit seeking to limit information provided to patients under Vermont law. The case sought to weaken the physicians’ duty to inform patients about all of their end-of-life care…
Compassion & Choices and Patient Choices Vermont praised a federal judge’s ruling to dismiss a lawsuit brought by religious groups seeking to undermine Vermont’s Patient Choice at End of Life Act (a/k/a Act 39). The law gives mentally capable, terminally ill adult residents of Vermont the option to get a doctor’s prescription for medication that…
A federal judge has granted a motion by Compassion & Choices, Patient Choices Vermont and two terminally ill Vermonters that allows them to argue in court against a lawsuit brought by religious groups to undermine Vermont’s End-of-Life Choice Act (Act 39). Act 39 gives mentally capable, terminally ill adult residents of Vermont the option to…
Inspired by passage of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, Dick and Ginny Walters wanted the same peace of mind, choice and control for people in their home state of Vermont. So they decided to take action, founding the enormously impactful advocacy organization Patient Choices Vermont in 2002. “We gathered a dedicated group who thought likewise;…
What a birthday present it was! On May 20, 2013, Ann Broekhuizen went to the statehouse in Montpelier to witness Governor Peter Shumlin sign the Patient Choice at the End of Life Act. With that, Vermont became the fourth state to authorize death with dignity. “I’m very proud of Vermont for this,” she says.
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