
[Editor’s Note: We do not recommend or refer specific physicians, counselors, organizations, or other experts on end-of-life issues.]
9 | States and DC Have Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide (see section I below) | ![]() |
8 | states (CA, CO, HI, ME, NJ, OR, VT, and WA) and DC legalized physician-assisted suicide via legislation | |
1 | state (MT) has legal physician-assisted suicide via court ruling |
41 | States Consider Assisted Suicide Illegal (see section II below) | ![]() |
34 | states have laws prohibiting assisted suicide | |
3 | states (AL, MA, and WV) prohibit assisted suicide by common law | |
4 | states (NV, NC, UT, and WY) have no specific laws regarding assisted suicide, may not recognize common law, or are otherwise unclear on the legality of assisted suicide. |
0 | Federal Laws on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide The federal government and all 50 states prohibit euthanasia under general homicide laws. The federal government does not have assisted suicide laws. Those laws are generally handled at the state level. |
[Editor’s Note: On Jan. 13, 2014, Second Judicial Judge Nan G. Nash ruled that physicians who help competent terminally ill patients end their lives could not be prosecuted. The ruling applied only to Bernalillo County in New Mexico and was appealed by New Mexico Attorney General Gary King on Mar. 13, 2014. King also requested a stay of Judge Nash’s ruling. On Aug. 11, 2015, the New Mexico Court of Appeals struck down Judge Nash’s ruling. The court’s ruling makes physician-assisted suicide illegal in Bernalillo County and all of New Mexico]
I. Eight States and DC with Legal Physician-Assisted Suicide
State | Date Passed | How Passed (Yes Vote) | Residency Required? | Minimum Age | # of Months Until Expected Death | # of Requests to Physician | |
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1. | California | Sep. 11, 2015 | ABX2-15 End of Life Option Act | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
2. | Colorado | Nov. 8, 2016 | Proposition 106, End of Life Options Act (65%) | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
3. | DC | Oct. 5, 2016 | B21-0038 Death with Dignity Act of 2016 (3-2) | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
4. | Hawaii | Apr. 5, 2018 | HB 2739, Hawai'i Our Care, Our Choice Act | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 20 days apart) and one written |
5. | Maine | June 12, 2019 | HP 948, An Act to Enact the Maine Death with Dignity Act | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 20 days apart) and one written |
6. | Montana | Dec. 31, 2009 | Montana Supreme Court in Baxter v. Montana (5-4) | Yes | no legal protocol | no legal protocol | no legal protocol |
7. | New Jersey | Mar. 25, 2019 | Bill A1504, Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
8. | Oregon | Nov. 8, 1994 | Ballot Measure 16 (51%) | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral and one written |
9. | Vermont | May 20, 2013 | Act 39 (Bill S.77 "End of Life Choices") | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
10. | Washington | Nov. 4, 2008 | Initiative 1000 (58%) | Yes | 18 | Six or less | Two oral (at least 15 days apart) and one written |
State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
1. California
ABX2-12 End of Life Option Act Signed into law: Oct. 5, 2015 “(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability solely because the person was present when the qualified individual self-administers the prescribed aid-in-dying drug. A person who is present may, without civil or criminal liability, assist the qualified individual by preparing the aid-in-dying drug so long as the person does not assist the qualified person in ingesting the aid-in-dying drug. (b) A health care provider or professional organization or association shall not subject an individual to censure, discipline, suspension, loss of license, loss of privileges, loss of membership, or other penalty for participating in good faith compliance with this part or for refusing to participate in accordance with subdivision (e). (c) Notwithstanding any other law, a health care provider shall not be subject to civil, criminal, administrative, disciplinary, employment, credentialing, professional discipline, contractual liability, or medical staff action, sanction, or penalty or other liability for participating in this part, including, but not limited to, determining the diagnosis or prognosis of an individual, determining the capacity of an individual for purposes of qualifying for the act, providing information to an individual regarding this part, and providing a referral to a physician who participates in this part. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to limit the application of, or provide immunity from.” [Note: California’s law took effect on June 9, 2016.] |
Contact and Program Details |
California Department of Health Address: PO Box 997377, MS 0500 Sacramento, CA 95899-7377 Phone #: 916-558-1784 Website: California Department of Health Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
2. Colorado
Proposition 106: End of Life Options Act Voted on Nov. 8, 2016 “(1) An adult resident of Colorado may make a request, in accordance with sections 25-48-104 and 25-48-112, to receive a prescription medical aid-in-dying medication if: (a) The individual’s attending physician has diagnosed the individual with a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less; (b) The individual’s attending physician has determined that the individual has mental capacity; and (c) The individual has voluntarily expressed the wish to receive a prescription for medical aid-in-dying medication; (2) The right to request medical aid-in-dying does not exist because of age or disability.” [Note: Colorado’s law took effect in Jan. 2017] |
Contact and Program Details |
Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment Address: 4300 Cherry Creek Drive, Denver, CO 80246 Phone #: 303-692-2000 Email: cdphe.information@state.co.us Website: CDPHE website Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
3. DC DC ACT 21-577 Death with Dignity Act of 2016 Signed into law: Dec. 19, 2016 “To provide procedures and requirements regarding the request for and dispensation of covered medications to qualified patients seeking to die in a humane and peaceful manner, to define the duties of attending physicians and consulting physicians, to provide for counseling of patients and family notification, to require informed decisions-making and waiting periods, to require reporting from the Department of Health, to outline the effect of the act on contracts, wills, insurance, and annuity policies, to provide for immunities, liabilities, and exceptions, to provide an opt-out provision for health care providers, to provide for claims against a qualified patient’s estate for costs incurred by the District government when a qualified patient ingests a covered medication in public, and to establish criminal penalties.” [Note: DC laws are subject to Congressional oversight. The Death with Dignity Act of 2016 was submitted to Congress for a 30-day review on Jan. 6, 2017. Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK) submitted disapproval resolutions to the House and Senate respectively on Jan. 12, 2017 that would bar the law. However, the resolutions did not come up for a full vote of the House or the Senate within 30 working days, making the law effective as of Feb. 18, 2017.] |
Contact and Program Details |
DC Department of Health Address: 899 North Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 Phone #: 202-442-5955 Email: doh@dc.gov Website: DC Department of Health website Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
4. Hawaii HB 2739, Hawai’i Our Care, Our Choice Act Signed into law: Apr. 5, 2018 “The legislature concludes that adult, terminally ill residents of the State can determine their own medical treatment as they near the end of life and should have a full complement of support services available, including palliative care, hospice care, aggressive medical care, and the right to choose to avoid an unnecessarily prolonged life of pain and suffering. The choice elected by an individual must be fully informed, including about options for care that are presented and discussed with health care providers in a values-neutral manner. The purpose of this Act is to allow qualified patients in this State with a medically confirmed terminal illness with less than six months to live and possessing decisional capacity to determine their own medical care at the end of their lives.” |
Contact and Program Details |
Hawaii Department of Health Address: 1250 Punchbowl St, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone #: 808-586-4400 Email: webmail@doh.hawaii.gov Website: Hawaii Department of Health website Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
5. Maine HP 948, An Act to Enact the Maine Death with Dignity Act Signed into law: June 12, 2019 “This bill enacts the Maine Death with Dignity Act authorizing a person who is 18 years of age or older, who meets certain qualifications and who has been determined by the person’s attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, as defined in the Act, to make a request for medication prescribed for the purpose of ending the person’s life. The bill establishes the procedures for making these requests, including 2 waiting periods and one written and 2 oral requests and requires a 2nd opinion by a consulting physician. The bill requires specified information to be documented in the person’s medical record, including all oral and written requests for a medication to hasten death.” [Note: The law indicates that it does not legalize “assisted suicide.” The law states that the act must be referred to as “obtaining and administering life-ending medication” in state reports.] |
Contact and Program Details |
Maine Department of Health and Human Services Address: 109 Capitol Street 11 State House Station Augusta Maine 04333 Phone #: 207-287-3707 Website: Maine Department of Health and Human Services website Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
6. Montana
Montana First Judicial District Court: Baxter v. Montana Decided: Dec. 5, 2008 in favor of plaintiffs The plaintiffs (four Montana physicians, Compassion and Choices, and Robert Baxter, a 76 year old truck driver from Billings dying of lymphocytic leukemia) asked the court to establish a constitutional right “to receive and provide aid in dying.” Judge Dorothy McCarter ruled that a terminally ill, competent patient has a legal right to die with dignity under Article II, Sections 4 and 10 of the Montana Constitution. That includes a right to “use the assistance of his physician to obtain a prescription for a lethal dose of medication that the patient may take on his own if and when he decides to terminate his life.” It further held “[t]he patient’s right to die with dignity includes protection of that patient’s physician from liability under the State’s homicide statutes.” The Attorney General of Montana appealed the ruling of Judge McCarter to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court found that “we find no indication in Montana law that physician aid in dying provided to terminally ill, mentally competent adult patients is against public policy” and therefore, the physician who assists is shielded from criminal liability by the patient’s consent. |
Contact and Program Details |
No legal protocol in place.
[Editor’s Note: Calls to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services on July 9 and July 11, 2012 to clarify Montana’s physician-assisted suicide protocol were not returned.] On Feb. 17, 2011, the Montana legislature tabled two proposed physician-assisted suicide bills. According to the Billings Gazette, “one would have banned the practice altogether (LC0041 – Republican Senator Greg Hinkle), while the other (LC0177 – Democratic Senator Dick Barrett) would have required a doctor to diagnose a patient as being terminally ill and the patient to make voluntary oral and written requests for a lethal prescription of medication. The request would have had to be signed by two witnesses and the patient also would have had to get a second doctor’s opinion.” Death With Dignity National Center, on its website at deathwithdignity.org, explains that “existing Montana state law provides immunity for physicians for withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment for a terminally-ill patient,” but “does not specifically address physician-assisted suicide.” |
State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
7. New Jersey
Bill A1504 Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act Signed into Law: Apr. 12, 2019 “Recognizing New Jersey’s long-standing commitment to individual dignity, informed consent, and the fundamental right of competent adults to make health care decisions about whether to have life-prolonging medical or surgical means or procedures provided, withheld, or withdrawn, this State affirms the right of a qualified terminally ill patient, protected by appropriate safeguards, to obtain medication that the patient may choose to self-administer in order to bring about the patient’s humane and dignified death.” [Note: New Jersey’s law will take effect on Aug. 1, 2019.] |
Contact and Program Details |
State of New Jersey Department of Health Address: PO Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625 Phone #: 800-367-6543 Website: State of New Jersey Department of Health Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
8. Oregon
Decided: Nov. 8, 1994 (51% for) “An adult who is capable, is a resident of Oregon, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who has voluntarily expressed his or her wish to die, may make a written request for medication for the purpose of ending his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.” Ballot Measure 51: Repeals Law Allowing Terminally Ill Adults To Obtain Lethal Prescription Decided: Nov. 4, 1997 (60% against) Supreme Court of the United States: Gonzales v. State of Oregon Decided: Jan. 17, 2006 (6-3 in favor of the State of Oregon) According to the court’s majority opinion, the Controlled Substances Act does not empower the Attorney General of the United States to prohibit doctors from prescribing regulated drugs for use in physician-assisted suicide under state law permitting the procedure. The court’s ruling upheld the Death With Dignity Act. On July 24, 2019, Governor Kate Brown signed SB 579 into law, changing the Death with Dignity Act. The Act now allows patients with fewer than 15 days to live to submit the second oral request for life-ending medication at any time after the first oral request, bypassing the 15-day waiting period. |
Contact and Program Details |
Oregon Health Authority Address: 800 Northeast Oregon Street, Portland, OR 97232 Phone #: 971-673-1222 Email: dwda.info@state.or.us Website: Oregon Health Authority – Death With Dignity Act Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
9. Vermont
Act No. 39. An Act Relating to Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Signed into law: May 20, 2013 “A physician shall not be subject to any civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action if the physician prescribes to a patient with a terminal condition medication to be self-administered for the purpose of hastening the patient’s death and the physician affirms by documenting in the patient’s medical record [the required information].” “A patient with a terminal condition who self-administers a lethal dose of medication shall not be considered to be a person exposed to grave physical harm… and no person shall be subject to civil or criminal liability solely for being present when a patient with a terminal condition self-administers a lethal dose of medication or for not acting to prevent the patient from self-administering a lethal dose of medication.” |
Contact and Program Details |
Vermont Department of Health Address: 108 Cherry Street, Burlington, VT, 05402 Phone #: 800-464-4343 Website: Vermont Department of Health Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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State and Relevant Physician-Assisted Suicide Law(s) |
10. Washington
Ballot Initiative 1000: Death With Dignity Act Decided: Nov. 4, 2008 (58% for) “An adult who is competent, is a resident of Washington state, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who has voluntarily expressed his or her wish to die, may make a written request for medication that the patient may self-administer to end his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.” |
Contact and Program Details |
Washington State Department of Health Address: P.O. Box 47856, Olympia, WA 98504-7856 Phone #: 360-236-4030 Email: secretary@doh.wa.gov Website: Washington State Department of Health – Death With Dignity Act Patient eligibility:
Physician protocol:
Patient request timeline:
Other:
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I. Eight States and DC with Legal Physician-Assisted Suicide
State | Criminal Statute | Type of Crime or Degree of Punishment | |
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1. | Alabama | Common law | Class A felony |
2. | Alaska | 11.41.120 | Manslaughter |
3. | Arizona | 13-1103 | Manslaughter |
4. | Arkansas | 5-10-104 | Manslaughter |
5. | Connecticut | 952.53a-56 | Second degree manslaughter |
6. | Delaware | 632 | Manslaughter |
7. | Florida | 782.08 | Second degree felony |
8. | Georgia | 16-5-5 | One to ten years imprisonment |
9. | Idaho | 18-4017 | Felony |
10. | Illinois | 12-34.5 | Class 2 felony, class 4 felony, class 3 felony, or class A misdemeanor. |
11. | Indiana | 35-42-1-2 | Class B felony |
12. | Iowa | 707A.2 | Class C felony |
13. | Kansas | 21-5407 | Person felony |
14. | Kentucky | 216.302 | Class C felony or class D felony |
15. | Louisiana | 32.12 | Up to ten years imprisonment and/or a fine up to $10,000. |
16. | Maryland | 3-102 | Felony |
17. | Massachusetts | Common law | First or second degree murder |
18. | Michigan | 750.329a | Felony |
19. | Minnesota | 609.215 | Up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine up to $30,000 if suicide results; up to seven years in prison and/or a fine up to $14,000 if attempted suicide results. |
20. | Mississippi | 97-3-49 | Felony |
21. | Missouri | 565.023.1 | Voluntary manslaughter, which is a class B felony |
22. | Nebraska | 28-307 | Class IV felony |
23. | Nevada | Unclear | There is no specific statute for assisted suicide and the act may not be covered by common law. |
24. | New Hampshire | 630:4 | Class B felony if suicide or attempted suicide results; misdemeanor if no suicide or attempt results |
25. | New Mexico | 30-2-4 | Fourth degree felony |
26. | New York | 125.15 | Second degree manslaughter |
27. | North Carolina | Unclear | There is no specific statute for assisted suicide and the act may not be covered by common law. |
28. | North Dakota | 12.1-16-04 | Class C felony or AA felony |
29. | Ohio | 3795 | Injunction and professional discipline |
30. | Oklahoma | 21-818 | Felony |
31. | Pennsylvania | 2505 | Second degree felony if suicide or attempted suicide results; second degree misdemeanor otherwise |
32. | Rhode Island | 11-60 | Felony |
33. | South Carolina | 16-3-1090 | Felony |
34. | South Dakota | 22-16-37 | Class 6 felony |
35. | Tennessee | 39-13-216 | Class D felony |
36. | Texas | 22.08 | Class C misdemeanor if no suicide or bodily injury results; state jail felony if suicide or attempted suicide with serious bodily injury |
37. | Utah | Unclear | Utah does not recognize common law and has no specific statute for assisted suicide. |
38. | Virginia | 8.01-622.1 | Liable for damages and possible cease and desist order. |
39. | West Virginia | Common law | The penalty is unclear because there is no specific statute making assisted suicide illegal. |
40. | Wisconsin | 940.12 | Class H felony |
41. | Wyoming | Unclear | Wyoming does not recognize common law and has no specific statute for assisted suicide. |