Contribution by Chris Sheldon, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, additional commentary by Margaret Dore Esq.
A federal judge ruled today that the residency requirement in New Jersey's medical aid in dying law [formerly described as physician assisted suicide and euthanasia] does not violate the US Constitution, meaning the state can keep its right to die law exclusively for residents.
The lawsuit was the third in the nation to challenge a medical aid-in-dying law’s residency requirement, which is required in ten states: Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, Montana, New Mexico and Vermont, and Washington D.C., officials said.
Of those ten, only Vermont and Oregon permit out-of-state residents to use their aid in dying laws, as a result of legal challenges brought by the former Hemlock Society, now known as Compassion & Choices.
