Vermont Enacting Assisted Suicide Law

Vermont is about to become the latest state in the nation to allow doctors to help patients die. Governor Peter Shumlin says he will sign the "End of Life Choice" bill just passed by the legislature. The measure, approved last night in the Vermont House, allows terminally ill patients, who have no more than six months to live, to ask their doctors to prescribe a fatal dose of drugs.

Oregon and Washington state already have assisted suicide laws on the books. In Montana, the practice is legal as a result of a court ruling rather than actual legislation.