A woman from Bridgeport, Connecticut, will be the first non-resident of Vermont to die as a result of Vermont’s medical help in dying law, widely known as Act 39. Lynda Bluestein, a long-time supporter of physician-assisted suicide, has ovarian and fallopian tube cancer. Her doctors recently stated that her condition has deteriorated. Bluestein told News 12 Connecticut that she is still on a quest to help others with her dying deed. Bluestein was on her way to Vermont to die on Wednesday, after reaching an agreement with the state to become the first nonresident to get medical help in dying, which is not authorized in Connecticut.
“I’ve had to do all of this in the most debilitating, frightening times of my life because the state of Connecticut made it impossible for me to say, ‘Oh, I’ve lost my ability to move comfortably and to make these decisions about what day to go,'” she said. Bluestein has spent her entire life as a crusader. She marched against gun violence in Washington, D.C., thirty years ago. She has recently been fighting with the state of Connecticut to pass an assisted suicide bill.
Bluestein says there will be wind phones with her in Vermont, so her family will always be able to call her
That bill has been defeated more than a dozen times. According to Jake Shannon, Bluestein’s son and caretaker, her trip to end her life on her terms will be both her final act and a chance to assist forward the cause that has become her life’s work. “I’m proud to be standing next to her doing this,” Shannon told News 12 Connecticut. “Once again, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” It’s a blessing.”
Bluestein is promoting a compassionate way for her loved ones to obtain closure and assist in processing her grief as she prepares to say her final goodbyes: wind phones, or vintage rotary phones that are disconnected yet allow family to grieve people they have lost. Bluestein reflected on how she hopes others will remember her now that her future is secure. “I’d like to be remembered as someone who never thought that second best was even in the realm of possibility; who always believed that you can make everything better,” she was quoted as saying.
Bluestein says there will be wind phones with her in Vermont. So her family will always be able to call her. NBC5 reached out to Jake Shannon, who confirmed that his mother will take a lethal dose of medication at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
