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A Connecticut woman is suing Vermont over an assisted suicide law that allows physicians to prescribe lethal medication to patients with incurable illnesses expected to kill them within six months.

The catch, from Lynda Bluestein‘s point of view, is patients have to be Vermont residents.

In the lawsuit, Ms. Bluestein and Dr. Diana Barnard, who lives in Vermont, challenge the residency requirement as a violation of the Constitution’s commerce, equal protection and privileges and immunities clauses.

While Ms. Bluestein has more than six months to live, she is on her third bout with fallopian tube cancer. Ms. Bluestein‘s mother also died of cancer.

“She said, ‘I never wanted you to see me like this.’ I don’t want my children to see me like that, either. I’d like their last memories of me to be as strong as possible, to interact with them and not in an adult diaper curled up in a fetal position, drugged out of my mind,” Ms. Bluestein told The Associated Press.

The lawsuit was filed on Ms. Bluestein and Ms. Barnard‘s behalf by the charity Compassion & Choices, which advocates for allowing people to have more say in how and when their lives end.

“Vermont’s medical aid-in-dying law has eased the suffering of numerous terminally ill Vermonters over the last nine years. The residency requirement prevents me from providing my non-resident patients with care consistent with their values and wishes at one of the most important moments in their lives,” Dr. Barnard said in a statement.

For Ms. Bluestein, the legal fight has become a race against the clock, wanting to avoid becoming severely ill and meeting the six months life expectancy requirement before she has access to assisted suicide.

“Ms. Bluestein does not want to — and, indeed, cannot — wait to start this legal process only after such an unfortunate eventuality and, as a consequence of such delay, thereby lose any hope of timely accessing her desired end-of-life care,” the lawsuit said.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.

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