New Jersey’s assisted dying law went into effect on August 1st, making it the eighth American state that allows terminally ill patients to self-administer deadly drugs with a doctor’s prescription, and the seventh to legalize the practice legislatively.
The law has several provisions meant to temper – or euthanize – the objections of moderates, like requiring a second opinion from a doctor and the presence of an unrelated witness to the patient’s request.
The Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act has been a priority of New Jersey Democrats for years, having been introduced in several different legislative sessions. Former governor Chris Christie threatened to veto it when the issue came up in 2014 and it died in the Senate. Now that there is unified Democratic control, the measure has become law.
