Changes to Oregon's Death with Dignity Law Sparks Conversations in Maine - WAGM
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) -A recent change to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Residency Requirement is sparking conversations here in Maine, Newssource 8′s Corey Bouchard spoke with advocates for and against changes to Maine’s Death with Dignity to learn more.
Valerie Lovelace - Executive Director - Maine Death with Dignity " Of course I think the other states that have laws are gonna have to be looking at and considering is this something we ought to be doing too”
Oregon, like Maine has a Death With Dignity law, or a law that makes it legal for physicians to prescribe medication to hasten the death of a person who is suffering from a terminal illness with a 6 month prognosis . A recent settlement from a lawsuit brought by an Oregon physician resulted in the state agreeing not to enforce a residency requirement to their law. An action that Matt Valliere, the executive director for Patients Rights Action Fund says could be a slippery slope for Oregon, and other states with similar laws that considering implementing the same change.
Matt Valliere - Executive Director - Patients Right Action Fund “It could encourage states like Maine and others who have legalized to drop their residency requirements and that would impact how things happen in Maine and places like Maine could end up as kind of suicide tourist states. "
A statement that Valerie Lovelace, the executive director for Maine Death With Dignity fully disagrees with
Valerie " I want to emphasize that that’s not gonna open floodgates for people who are suddenly gonna be rushing to Maine because the process doesn’t work like that”
Lovelace feels that this service should be treated no differently from any other healthcare service, where residency isn’t an issue in the care that can be provided to you.
Valerie " It does sort of fly in the face of every other healthcare service that a person can get anywhere they choose to, except this one”
Valliere says that this service shouldn’t be thought of in the sense of traditional healthcare, but instead like medical marijuana, where residency requirements are enforced.
Matt “so similarly with medical marijuana in Colorado, you have to be a Colorado resident and if you’re not, they really cant treat you for that unless you establish residency.
With Maine’s Death with Dignity Law having passed in 2019 by narrow margins, it is unlikely that any change would be easy to achieve, unless a lawsuit, like the one in Oregon, is brought forth, but that wont stop advocates like Lovelace, and Valliere from continuing to bring both sides of this conversation to the forefront. Corey Bouchard, Newssource 8
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source: https://www.wagmtv.com/2022/04/07/changes-oregons-death-with-dignity-law-sparks-conversations-maine/
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