A special report from Amy Shollenberger, Grassroots Organizer for Patient Choices Vermont, about the recent accomplishments and current status of the Vermont's Death with Dignity legislative effort:

Patient Choices Vermont has been working hard toward the first ever legislatively passed Death with Dignity Act.

This past winter, the bill was introduced into both sides of the Vermont Statehouse (H.274 in the House and S.103 in the Senate) with a large number of sponsors, including prominent members of all three major political parties — Democrat, Republican, and Progressive — and it's well positioned for passage during the 2012 legislative session.

Our recently elected Governor, Peter Shumlin, is a strong supporter of the bill. Governor Shumlin was very open in his support for the bill during the election, and before legislators adjourned for the year, Shumlin publicly reiterated his support:

I'm a big supporter of Death with Dignity...The Oregon bill is the model we used for our bill…I would like to see it passed in Vermont...next year. I'd very much like to be the governor who signs it into law.

Leading up to that statement, Patient Choices Vermont led a strong grassroots effort to build support for the bill in the statehouse. Our activities included a press conference for the bill's introduction, new poll results showing Vermonters overwhelmingly support the Death with Dignity bill, and several other important events:

• March: Patient Choices hosted a speaker tour over the mid-session break with George Eighmey from Oregon. The tour featured four public events, as well as several press interviews, including a popular call-in radio show, cable access TV interviews, a feature in a local alternative paper, and coverage of our public forums.
• April: Patient Choices Vermont worked with HBO when they came to Vermont with filmmaker Peter Richardson to screen a "sneak preview" of How to Die in Oregon.
• May: Death with Dignity National Center board president, Steve Telfer, visited Vermont and joined our team in the statehouse for an afternoon.

Throughout the session, Patient Choices Vermont's field efforts generated hundreds of phone calls to legislators, dozens of letters to the editor, and several activist meetings with lawmakers. As a result, we ended the 2011 session with strong support for the Death with Dignity bill, and an expectation that the bill will be considered in 2012. Check out many of the Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and Opinion Editorials.

Notably, the bill has also garnered conservative newspaper editorial support. Emerson Lynn from the St. Albans Messenger wrote:

It's their life. It should be their choice. We should not countenance arguments that suggest terminally ill patients should endure suffering, and that they have no voice in how their lives should end.

Remember, too, this is not a decision forced upon the terminally ill. Those affected would have the freedom to choose their course. Why then, should we allow people not affected to control the most personal of all decisions for those who are?

We shouldn't. The Death with Dignity bill deserves our support.

Polling in Vermont continually demonstrates the strong public support for the bill. The traditional town meeting week poll run by the Dean of the State Senate, Bill Doyle, this year again found overwhelming support for the bill.

This summer and fall, Patient Choices Vermont will continue to lead an effort to work toward enactment of the bill in 2012. We're working with our supporters across the state to urge lawmakers to support the bill. We'll also hold more public forums this fall, and continue our media relations efforts. Our legislative session begins in January, and we'll be ready for it!

You can keep up to date with our grassroots efforts through the Patient Choices Vermont website, on Facebook, or through our Twitter updates.