The Connecticut woman, who was terminally-ill, died at her own request in Vermont Thursday. Her husband called the event “comfortable and peaceful.”
Lynda Blustein, a Bridgeport activist who had been active for many years, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, she did not want to wait until the illness took her life. She spent years working to expand the access to Vermont’s law, which allows terminally ill people to choose to end their life with lethal medications.
Bluestein took her -prescribed medication on Thursday in the presence of her family.
In an email sent to The Associated Press, her husband Paul shared that his wife’s last words were: “I am so happy I no longer have to suffer.”
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FILE – Lynda Blustein, who fought for expanded access to Vermont’s law allowing terminally ill patients to receive lethal medications to end their life, died on Thursday in Vermont after taking prescribed medication.
Bluestein told AP in 2013 that she felt empowered by her decision to end her life. She said that she would rather die surrounded by family and friends than wait in a hospital for her cancer.
“I want to die the same way as I lived my life and I want it to be the same way that I died.” I wanted to be able to make my own decisions when the cancer took so much from me that I couldn’t bear it anymore. Bluestein said, “That’s my decision.”
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Bluestein stated that her mother had died in hospital following a long fight during the same interview.
She said, “I wanted a meaningful death but I didn’t want it to take forever for me to go.”
This image was taken from a video of Lynda Blustein smiling during an interview at her home in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 28, 2023.
Vermont’s law allows doctors to prescribe lethal medications to patients with incurable illnesses that are expected to kill them in six months.
Bluestein has advocated similar legislation being passed in Connecticut, New York but this hasn’t happened.
Her death occurred after Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization that represents Bluestein and Diana Barnard (a Middlebury physician), filed a suit against Vermont in the year 2022.
The lawsuit changed Vermont’s requirement for residency in its “patient choice and control” law at the end of life, claiming that the requirement violated U.S. Constitution. The state reached a settlement in March 2023 that allowed Bluestein, despite not being a Vermont resident to use the law in Vermont.
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Barnard stated that “Lynda, who was a staunch advocate, wanted to access this law, and she did. But she and everyone else deserves to be able to access it much more easily, because having to travel to Vermont and make plans around scheduling is something we don’t want people to experience.”
Vermont law allows doctors to prescribe lethal medications to patients with terminal illnesses that are expected to kill them in six months.
The physician said, “But the beauty and peace that resulted from Lynda being able to have a say about what happened in the final moments of her life is more than just a silver lining.”
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Medically Assisted Suicide is a controversial topic as critics oppose assisted suicide on moral grounds and claim that vulnerable patients could be forced to commit suicide.
However, supporters of the law say that it has strict safeguards. This includes making repeated requests to a doctor over a certain period of time, and having witnesses who are not involved.
This report was contributed by The Associated Press.