Medical Aid in Dying:
An Option for Freedom and Compassion
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Medical aid in dying offers terminally ill people the option of deciding to die peacefully in their sleep. Learn More.
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Medical aid in dying is part of person-directed end-of-life care, along with hospice and palliative care.Learn more.
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A person must be assessed by two medical professional as terminally ill, able to make health care decisions for themselves, able to self administer the aid-in-dying medications, and acting of their own free will. Learn more.
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And, please scroll down!
What MAiD Is, What’s it’s Not, Safeguards, and Why Now
What Medical Aid in Dying Is
Safeguards
More than 25 years of evidence starting with Oregon demonstrate that safeguards in every law protect vulnerable people are protected. They ensure that all terminally ill people pursuing the MAiD option are protected from coercion. There have been no substantiated cases of anyone being coerced or pressured into using MAiD. Every law makes such pressure a criminal offense.
process fact sheet here
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Medical aid in dying (MAiD) is a trusted and time-tested medical practice that allows a terminally ill, mentally capable adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request from their health care provider a prescription for medication they can decide to self-ingest to die peacefully in their sleep.
MAiD is legal in 12 states plus the District of Columbia. MAiD was adopted first in Oregon in 1997. Vermont legalized MAiD in 2013 and Maine in 2019.
What it’s Not
MAiD is not euthansia. Euthanasia is the decision of a physician to end a suffering patient’s life. Under MAiD, only the patient can make that decision and the patient must self-administer the drug. No one else can make the decision for them - not a spouse, child, guardian, medical proxy, attorney, etc. Euthanasia is illegal in the U.S.
MAiD is not suicide. MAiD is a medical practice which is sought by dying patients who know their death is only a question of when, not if. MAiD, unlike suicide, requires a formal written and witnessed application, a medical evaluation by two clinicians, and a prognosis of six months or less to live. And unlike suicide, the dying patient elect to die in their own home, peacefully and with friends and family if they choose.
Why Now?
Because increasing numbers of NH people want it. Polling shows that 7 in 10 Granite Staters support legislation allowing the MAiD option. (link to or polling fact sheet)
Many NH people think it unfair that if they have a terminal condition they don’t have the same options - are treated differently - than their neighbors in Maine and Vermont.
Especially since Vermont dropped its residency requirement two years ago, more terminally ill NH people are looking there for MAiD as an option. But it is very challenging for out-of-staters to access MAiD in Vermont. (link to PCV) And, why should a terminally ill NH resident - or anyone else - have to leave their home and travel to another state to die peacefully?
Finally, in 2025 two more states - Delaware and Illinois - adopted MAiD, and New York is set to legalize it in early 2026. So, many Granite Staters say, it’s time to “live free” and die free.
What will it take bring this option to New Hampshire? Read on . . .