Many people have strong beliefs about whether a person should have the right to die when they choose—to end a person’s own perceived pain and suffering, especially when they are terminally ill. These beliefs are often rooted in religion, morals, ethics, law (government-made and natural), and spirituality. Depending on a person’s beliefs or point of view, the issue and related laws may also be referred to as death with dignity, assisted suicide, aid in dying, physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, end of life options, and patient choice and control at the end of life.

Currently eight states and the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) have laws (statutes) that permit persons to choose when to end their lives under certain circumstances. These states include (1) California, (2) Colorado, (3) Hawaii, (4) Maine, (5) New Jersey, (6) Oregon, (7) Vermont, and (8) Washington. And although the state of Montana does not have such a statute its supreme court has ruled that nothing in the state’s law prohibits a physician from honoring a terminally ill but mentally competent patient’s request to prescribe medication to expedite the patient’s death. In states without such laws a physician or other person’s act of assisting a person with suicide is generally subject to criminal prosecution for murder or other criminal charges.

In Colorado, the right to die is governed by the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act, which was passed in 2016. This law allows a terminally ill adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request and self-administer medical aid-in-dying medication in order to voluntarily end their life. The patient must be deemed mentally competent and must make two oral requests, at least 15 days apart, as well as a written request, to a licensed Colorado physician. The law includes several safeguards to ensure that the decision is informed and voluntary. It is important to note that the act does not consider the use of medical aid-in-dying medication to be suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide under the law. In Colorado, assisting a suicide outside the parameters of the End-of-Life Options Act remains illegal and could result in criminal charges.