Sunday 28 August 2022 01:25 AM Connecticut grandma shares why she's suing Vermont to let her use its ... trends now

A cancer-stricken Connecticut grandma who's suing Vermont to let use its assisted dying laws says she was inspired to do so after watching the disease kill her mom.

Lynda Bluestein, 75, told DailyMail.com: 'I was mostly influenced by my mothers death in 1994 she also had three cancers and I went from New York to California to be there at the end with her.

'She turned away and said 'I don't want you to see me like this.' She was a fraction of what she used to be and had been suffering for a long time.

'As I held her as she breathed her last, I said this is not going to happen to me. This is not how I want my life to end.

'When I got my most recent diagnosis I just knew that I had to find a place that I could go to. My husband contacted people he knows at Compassion and Choices to help me.'

Bluestein was diagnosed with terminal fallopian tube cancer in March 2021, having previously suffered breast and skin cancer. 

She was given six months to three years to live on her diagnosis. Bluestein has defied doctors' predictions and remains in relatively good health - but knows there will be no miracle cure, and that her health will decline in the near future. 

She is barred from using Vermont's assisted dying law, as it is only available to residents, and hit the headlines earlier this week after details of her lawsuit emerged.  

The cancer-stricken grandmother who lodged a lawsuit against her home state of Vermont in a bid to legally end her life has vowed to do 'everything' she can to revoke a state law that has prevented her from doing so.

Vermont allows residents who are within six months of death to obtain a drink which will kill them.

Bluestein says she is still in relatively good health.

But having seen one of her friends move to Vermont to make use of the law, she fears she'll be too weak to complete the paperwork when her health begins its final decline. 

She explained: 'I chose Vermont because I have a friend who was in the last stages of cancer, who decided to move to Vermont to be able to make the most of their MAiD laws. 

'It took three months for her to get all of the paperwork in order, she had to get two strangers to sign off on some of it that she met in her final days.

'She sent me an email, she told me not to wait to long. She said that it takes a lot longer and is a lot harder than you think it is going to be.

'When I got my ominous diagnosis I want to have my say, my place at the table. It's my life and I'm not going to let politicians or judges or anyone else tell me what my last days are going to look like.

'That is going to be up to me. I wish I didn't have to go to Vermont, I wish that I could get it here but I can't.

'My disease moves at a very aggressive rate, and it could make me unable, physically and emotionally, to carry out all the paperwork is required'. 

The mother-of-two from Bridgeport, Connecticut, lodged the lawsuit along with Dr Diana Barnard from Vermont, claiming that the residency requirement violates the US Constitution.

In an exclusive interview, she told DailyMail.com she wants to get her affairs in order before she is 'physically and emotionally' unable to deal with the difficult decision and all the paperwork it entails.

Bluestein said: 'This isn't just an issue, this is my issue that's all about me. The thing that has always motivated me about choosing MAiD is it is an option for how I spent my last days alive. 

Bluestein and Dr Barnard's lawsuit, filed by Compassion and Choices a group supporting MAiD, is asking the court to block the enforcement of the residency provision.