A Connecticut woman who pushed for expanded access to Vermont’s law that allows people who are terminally ill to receive lethal medication to end their lives died in Vermont on Thursday, an event her husband called “comfortable and peaceful,” just like she wanted. Lynda Bluestein, who had terminal cancer, ended her life by taking prescribed medication. “Her last words were ‘I’m so happy I don’t have to do this (suffer) anymore,’” her husband, Paul, wrote in an email on Thursday to the group Compassion & Choices, which was shared with the Associated Press.
The organization filed a lawsuit against Vermont in 2022 on behalf of Bluestein, of Bridgeport, Conn., and Diana Barnard, a physician from Middlebury, Vt. The suit claimed Vermont’s residency requirement in its so-called patient choice and control at end of life law violated the US Constitution’s commerce, equal protection, and privileges and immunities clauses.
Advertisement The state agreed to a settlement last March that allowed Bluestein, who is not a Vermont resident, to use the law to die in Vermont. And two months later, Vermont made such accommodations available to anyone in similar circumstances, becoming the first state in the country to change its law to allow terminally ill people from out of state to take advantage of it to end their lives. “Lynda was an advocate all the way through, and she wanted access to this law and she had it, but she and everybody deserves to have access much close.
