Vermont’s Governor signed a bill Monday that will allow Vermont physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients that request it.
Governor Shumlin signed the End of Life act into law, a bill that has been debated in one form or another for a decade. With the Governor’s signature, Vermont becomes the first state to legislatively approve allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medicine if a terminally ill patient wishes. Governor Shumlin called the legislature’s passage of the measure historic.
The law was effective as soon as the Governor signed it.