Living with a terminal illness can be miserable both mentally and physically, even with advances in modern medicine and technology. That is why many who face the end of their natural lives look to do so on their own terms. However, in the U.S. that is rarely an option.
A new report from KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, shows dying with medical assistance, which used to be called physician-assisted suicide, is a new form of medical tourism.
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Medical tourism, also known as health tourism, is when someone travels from their home, in this case, out of state, to receive treatment that would otherwise be denied or not even be an option.
Right now, dying with medical assistance is legal in only 10 states: Vermont, California, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon and Montana, as well as Washington, D.C.
Nine of those states and the District of Columbia have laws dictating the process for choosing to die with medical assistance. In Montana, there is no specific law on the subject. However, it is not illegal after the state’s Supreme Court ruled there is no statute prohibiting health care providers from assisting patients in dying.
And while it is a sensitive topic, dying with medical assistance is being talked about in more and more states. This past legislative session, 18 states considered aid-in-dying laws. The Delaware Legislature passed one, however, that bill is still awaiting the governor’s approval.
These laws tend to apply only to residents of the individual state where dying with medical assistance is legal, but Vermont and Oregon lifted their residency requirements in 2023.
Since then, KFF says at least 26 people have traveled from other states to Vermont to die. That represents 25% of the assisted deaths reported there from May 2023 through June of this year.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, 23 people from out-of-state died with medical assistance in 2023, which is about 6% of the state’s total.
In every state that tracks medical aid in dying, more people got the prescription than actually used it, most commonly because their illness overcame them. A terminal form of cancer is often why patients seek medical assistance in dying.
