Democratic Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law on Monday legalizing physician-assisted suicide, making it the third state in the nation to legalize the practice.
The Burlington Free Press reports that the new law, known as The Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act, is scheduled to go into effect immediately. That means that state officials are quickly trying to formulate parameters for doctors and hospitals who participate in the new law.
"Vermonters facing terminal illness at the end of their lives now have control over their own destinies," said Shumlin at the signing ceremony.
The Agence France-Presse reports that Vermont is the first state in the U.S. to adopt physician-assisted suicide into law by legislative process instead of through a voter-initiated vote.
A recent poll conducted by Pew Research found that 84 percent of Americans are in support of permitting an adult patient that is terminally ill to decide if they would like to keep living.
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