A Connecticut woman who pushed for expanded access to Vermont’s law that allows people who are terminally ill to receive lethal medication to end their lives died in Vermont on Thursday, an event her husband called “comfortable and peaceful,” just like she wanted.
Lynda Bluestein, who had terminal cancer, ended her life by taking prescribed medication.
Her last words were ‘I’m so happy I don’t have to do this (suffer) anymore,’” her husband Paul wrote in an email on Thursday to the group Compassion & Choices, which was shared with The Associated Press.
The organization filed a lawsuit against Vermont in 2022 on behalf of Bluestein, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Diana Barnard, a physician from Middlebury. The suit claimed Vermont’s residency requirement in its so-called patient choice and control at end of life law violated the U.S. Constitution’s commerce, equal protection, and privileges and immunities clauses.
My mom literally starved to death. She would have absolutely preferred to go out peacefully and comfortably, but instead she was forced to slowly waste away in front of her entire family until her body shut down. The last last week was absolutely torture, and the last two days of that were even worse. Thankfully she had good pallative/hospice nurses, but it’s absurd that she needed that kind of attention instead of being allowed a more dignified death.
My Mom had a stroke that paralyzed her left side completely. It took her a week to die of dehydration. It was absolute torture. You have my sincere condolences. I just lost her a month ago.
She had a degenerative autoimmune disease that she suffered with for nearly 25 years. Her good days were long outnumbered by her bad days and her mobility was severely limited. It would not have been a good prognosis of recovery, especially with her already weakened state.
Suffering from chronic pain, her nerves and muscles under attack by her immune system, she suffered most of my adult life. It affected her mind in addition to her body. Having seen her life taken from her slowly it would have been much better to have had the option to go out on her own terms.