Oregon Removes Residency Requirement

We are pleased to announce that on July 14, 2023, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 2279, removing the residency restriction from Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.  

Oregon’s law, passed in 1997, was the model for Vermont’s Act 39, passed in 2013, enabling terminally-ill, mentally-capable adults to request medical aid in dying. Both Oregon and Vermont now recognize that access to medical aid in dying should be available regardless of a person’s state of residence.  

We at PCV greatly welcome this news. Here in Vermont, we have seen a major spike in out-of-state traffic to the PCV website and calls to our helpline since our law changed in May, with many callers expressing their gratitude for the possibility of accessing medical aid in dying in Vermont. It is our hope that the other jurisdictions that have similar laws (WA, CA, CO, HA, NJ, ME, NM, DC, MT) will soon follow suit and remove their residency requirements.

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Donny Osman, right, and J.T. Turner in Act 39, on opening night at the Haybarn Theater. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Successful Premiere Staging of the Play, Act 39

Act 39, written by Rob Mermin and produced by Donny Osman, premiered at the Goddard Hay Barn Theater in late June. The play garnered excellent reviews and sold out all eight performances, quite an accomplishment for a new work. 

Following several of the shows, PCV team members facilitated audience discussions, which were very well attended. 

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Our thanks and congratulations go out to playwright Rob Mermin, director Monica Callen, actors Donny Osman, JT Turner, Maren Langdon Spillane and Dominic Spillane, set designer Cavan Meese, sound designer Johnnie Day Durand and the rest of the tech crew. 

As you might guess, death is a central theme in this two act play. The autobiographical story, however, centers on the playful connection and deep friendship between the main characters, Rob and Bill. The lightness and humor embedded in their friendship is woven throughout the drama, and persists even as they suddenly find themselves delving into the emotional reality of living through Bill’s terminal diagnosis and his decision to use medical aid in dying. It is a moving, entertaining, thought-provoking and ultimately uplifting piece of theatre. We at PCV are proud to have played a role in getting it onto the stage.

Act 39, the play, has already generated an impressive amount of awareness and insight into what Act 39, the law, offers to people at end of life, and to their friends and loved ones. We are grateful that Rob chose to engage his talents into bringing his lived experiences to the stage. It is truly a labor of love, and PCV continues to work with Rob to bring this story to life through further performances and video.

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