Proponents of Death with Dignity legislation in Massachusetts are heartened by positive feedback in the current session of the State House. At the present time, 10 states, and Washington D.C., have laws which allow terminally ill patients the legal option to end their lives with a physician-issued prescription. Massachusetts is not one of those states.

Massachusetts residents do have access to Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) but it requires an arduous process and reliance on Vermont’s current legislation. Vermont and Oregon are the only two states which allow out-of-state residents access to their MAID laws.

In 2013, Vermont enacted Death with Dignity legislation. Ten years later the state expanded that law allowing access by non-residents — adopted after a lawsuit filed on behalf of Connecticut resident Lynda Bluestein who suffered from fallopian tube and ovarian cancer. Wanting to end her life in a peaceful, calm and uneventful manner, Mrs. Bluestein ingested the prescribed medication in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, far from her home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Before dying she expressed her appreciation to Vermont but added a wish that “everybody should have this option available to them right in their own backyard.”

Vermont protocols require out-of-state residents to follow these steps:

■Each step in the process must be conducted in person. Telemedicine or other remote methods are not allowed.

■The patient is responsible for locating a Vermont physician willing to prescribe the needed medication. Vermont has no mandate requiring doctors to be part of this program.

■Once a Vermont doctor has been located and an appointment made, a physical examination will determine eligibility based on the following patient requirements: must be 18 or older with a prognosis of six months or less to live; capable of making their own health care decisions; medication request must be made in a voluntary and informed manner; ability to self-administer the medication.

A second Vermont physician is required to conduct a physical examination confirming the findings of the first exam. Both independent physicians must agree that the patient meets all of the requirements before a prescription can be issued.

The medication cannot leave the confines of Vermont whose law requires that administering the medication must be done in-state to protect anyone who is assisting a patient accessing MAID.

The Vermont Wayfinders Network will assist with lodging and logistics locating a suitable location to conduct the final step. However, it may not be in a familiar and comforting destination to the patient.

Massachusetts needs comparable legislation. Medical aid in dying allows patients to say goodbye to friends and relatives before taking a medication that would induce sleep in a matter of minutes, followed by a deep coma and death within a few hours. It avoids arduous out-of-state travel for our most debilitated citizens which could make any travel difficult. It allows for a dignified, painless and quiet death at a time chosen by the patient.

The proposed Massachusetts legislation would be the strongest in the nation. It would include all of the Vermont requirements but also include additional stipulations including:

■Requirement for two separate requests, one oral, one written with a 15-day waiting period between requests

■Mental capacity must be determined by a licensed mental health specialist

■Written request must be witnessed by two people, one of whom cannot be a relative or someone who stands to benefit from the patient’s estate

These, and other requirements, are imposed to ensure that mentally capable individuals are fully aware of the consequences of what they are requesting and are also capable of self-ingesting the prescribed medication.

If you agree with the majority of Massachusetts residents that our state needs its own Death with Dignity legislation, please contact your state legislator to express your support for this bill known as: An Act Relative to End of Life Options S.1486/H.2505.

John Carney lives in South Deerfield.