You cannot come to New Jersey to die, judge says

💊 New Jersey doctors can prescribe medication to end your life

💊 The Aid in Dying law only applies to NJ residents

💊 Terminally ill patients sued over the residency requirement

Terminally ill individuals may not travel to New Jersey to end their lives.

When New Jersey's Aid in Dying law took effect in 2019, it included a provision that doctors verify a patient's residency before prescribing them medications that will end their lives.

A federal judge has ruled the residency requirement does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

The ruling came after terminally ill cancer patients from Delaware and Pennsylvania sued. They wanted to travel to New Jersey to end their lives.

The suit was brought on behalf of the women by the group Compassion & Choices, which advocates for expansion of access to end-of-life procedures.

Attorneys for the group expressed disappointment over the ruling but called it "a temporary roadblock." They did not say if they planned an appeal.

Dying is the new form of medical tourism

For years, people have been traveling for medical procedures in a process dubbed "medical tourism." Popular destinations are in the U.S., but also many other countries.

According to a report from CNN, cosmetic surgery, dental care, fertility, organ and tissue transplantation, and cancer treatments are the most common procedures sought out.

However, as more states have added laws allowing the terminally ill to end their own lives on their own terms, people have been traveling to receive this type of end-of-life care.

New Jersey is among 10 states and the District of Columbia that have aid in dying laws. Most have residency requirements.

New York and California also provide end of life care for residents. Efforts to end residency requirements have failed.

Conversely, Vermont and Oregon have lifted residency requirements. Each state reports dozens of non-residents have traveled to Vermont and Oregon to end their lives.

Each state expects that number to continue to grow.

Residency requirements are controversial

While some states have put restrictions on access to abortion, individuals can travel anywhere within the United States for any other type of medical care.

Many physicians support ending the residency requirement for end-of-life care.

“New Jersey’s medical aid-in-dying law has eased the suffering of numerous terminally ill New Jerseyans over the last four years,” said Dr. Paul Bryman, the medical director at a hospice in Camden County and a plaintiff in the suit. “The residency mandate prevents me from providing nonresident patients who request this gentle dying option with care consistent with their values and wishes at one of the most important moments in their lives.”

For the terminally ill, the issue is about ending their life on their own terms.

Pennsylvania resident Andrea Sealy has been battling metastatic breast cancer for more than six years.

Sealy lives 10 minutes from New Jersey and was hoping to take advantage of the state's Aid in Dying law.

"I don't want to needlessly suffer," Sealy said. "It's just not something that I want for myself or my family."

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