Over 200 terminally-ill people have chosen to receive life-ending drugs in Vermont in the past decade since the state legalized assisted suicide in 2013.
A new report by the Vermont Department of Health revealed that 203 patients chose to ‘die with dignity’ between May 2013 and June 2023.
In May 2013, the Vermont General Assembly passed Act 39, which allows capable, terminally ill adult patients to request and obtain a prescription for life-ending medication to hasten their death.
Participation by patients and doctors is entirely voluntary.
Jewett is pictured chatting with his daughter Anneke, now 25, during the first day at the Legislature January 5, 2004, in Montpelier, VT
In May 2023, the law was expanded and out-of-state terminally ill patients were also allowed to apply for approval to access the drugs.
According to the report, 153 Vermonters who chose to die willingly were suffering from cancer, while 26 people were plagued with neurodegenerative conditions.
This statistic does not include out-of-state patients who chose assisted suicide after the state expanded the law.
The state’s original ‘aid-in-dying’ law stated that patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live had to make two in-person visits to a physician.
Then, they had to visit another consulting physician and submit a written request. The patient had to wait 48 hours to obtain a prescription if approved.
But in 2022, the process was simplified. Since then, patients have been allowed to speak to prescribing physicians through telemedicine and do not have to wait for 48 hours for a prescription.
One of the 203 people who chose to die with dignity was a former Vermont legislator and state House majority leader who had supported changes to the Act 39 law and made it easier for terminally ill people to get prescriptions.
Former Vermont legislator Willem Jewett, 58, passed away on January 12 with the help of medical suicide after he was diagnosed with a rare condition called mucosal melanoma over a year ago
A new report by the Vermont Department of Health revealed that 203 patients chose to ‘die with dignity’ between May 2013 and June 2023
Williem Jewett, 58, died at his Ripton, Vermont, home on January 12, 2022 surrounded by his family, according to his wife, Ellen McKay.
The late legislator had been diagnosed with mucosal melanoma, a rare type of cancer that develops in the mucous membranes of the body.
Jewett, a lawyer and a competitive cyclist, served in the Vermont House from 2003 to 2016, where he was known for his energy, humor and intelligence – and for riding his bicycle more than 50 miles to the Statehouse for the annual Earth Day ride.
The Democrat became assistant majority leader in 2011 and later majority leader.
‘He lived life as if there wasn’t a moment to spare,’ House Speaker Shap Smith said at the time. ‘In the Legislature, he was great to work with, very smart and ‘definitely had a feisty side.’
When the House gave final approval to the bill in 2013 after a day of debate in which members told stories of their own loved ones’ deaths, Jewett, then majority leader, said: ‘I’ve listened to all these stories, very personal stories, and I respect every single one of them.’
Under the legislation, he said, ‘We all get to remain true to our guideposts at the end of our life.’
Jewett pictured with Shap Smith (left) as they share the 2016 Vermont Bar Association Service Award
Smith said that Jewett was key in helping to organize a strategy on the bill, ensuring the House had the votes and then working with leadership to get support from senators.
Along with others, ‘his support was really critical,’ said Betsy Walkerman, president of Patient Choices Vermont, a nonprofit organization. ‘He´s very proud of this bill.’
Walkerman spoke to him by phone January 7, five days before he died.
He ‘just wanted to add his voice, which is incredibly powerful because he has this dual role as a legislator and a patient, a person near the end of life, who’s making choices,’ she said.
Jewett was initially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2008 after noticing a lump underneath his clavicle.
‘I guess if I have a problem now on the energy level, it’s having too much,’ Jewett told the Independent in 2008. ‘Maybe (with chemotherapy) I’ll have the energy of only one person.’
He was later diagnosed with mucosal melanoma. Months before his death, he married Ellen McKay in June after meeting her four years prior.
McKay Jewett confirmed that her husband passed away at their Ripton home on January 12
Jewett served in the state’s House of Representatives for 14 years where he briefly was majority leader before his retirement in 2016
During his final months, he rode 100 miles with his cycling team, brother and daughters in which they raised over $20,000 for cancer research with the Prouty fundraiser.
He continued to work even after beginning the medical-aid-in-dying request process last month.
Prior to his death, he continued to use his political platform to advocate for changes in the assisted suicide law Act 39.
He ended his life on January 12 with his family close by as they shared his final moments.
‘Forza’ he said before taking the prescription to his wife, according to the VT Digger.
‘And he smiled, and he said ‘forza,’ she said. ‘Which is what they yell at Italian bike races. It means go, go, go get ’em, strength. Forza.’