Vermont to Legalize Aid-in-Dying

It is exciting to be in Vermont this week.  I am in Burlington.  But just down the road in Montpelier, the State legislature is poised to become the first in the United States to affirmatively authorize physician aid-in-dying.  (Washington and Oregon were by referendum.  Montana was by court decision and Medical Board rules.)  



I am looking across Lake Champlain into New York.  I am reminded that it was there, 20 years ago, that the case against Timothy Quill began.  Later, in 1997, Quill lost that case when the Supreme Court upheld New York's prohibition of assisted suicide.  Now, with solid data from Oregon and elsewhere, the tide sure seems to be turning - both here, in other states, and in Canada.