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Rita Mannebach Traveled From Florida to Vermont to Choose How She Died
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/rita-mannebach-traveled-from-florida-to-vermont-to-choose-how-she-died-41394553Rita Mannebach Traveled From Florida to Vermont to Choose How She Died
By ALISON NOVAK
Published July 17, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
Rita Mannebach - JAMES BUCK
Two days before she drank a cocktail of medications that would end her life, Rita Mannebach said she was not afraid.
"I don't know what happens after we die — if anything," 84-year-old Mannebach told a Seven Days reporter last week, her small frame tucked into the corner of an oversize couch in a rented house in Burlington. "And I'm not worried about it."
Mannebach, a Florida resident with terminal lung disease, had no connections to the Green Mountain State. But last week, she chose to die here because Vermont is one of just two states that allow nonresidents to pursue medical aid in dying, an option for patients with fewer than six months to live. A local doctor prescribed the medication that ended Mannebach's life.
Vermont has had a so-called "death with dignity" law on the books since 2014. Until last year, only a state resident could use it. Lawmakers lifted that requirement in May 2023 after a lawsuit filed by Lynda Bluestein, a Connecticut woman with stage IV cancer who wanted to die in the state. She ultimately did, in January, using the newly passed Vermont law. About two dozen people from out of state have done the same in the past year, data show.
[...]
By ALISON NOVAK
Published July 17, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
Rita Mannebach - JAMES BUCK
Two days before she drank a cocktail of medications that would end her life, Rita Mannebach said she was not afraid.
"I don't know what happens after we die — if anything," 84-year-old Mannebach told a Seven Days reporter last week, her small frame tucked into the corner of an oversize couch in a rented house in Burlington. "And I'm not worried about it."
Mannebach, a Florida resident with terminal lung disease, had no connections to the Green Mountain State. But last week, she chose to die here because Vermont is one of just two states that allow nonresidents to pursue medical aid in dying, an option for patients with fewer than six months to live. A local doctor prescribed the medication that ended Mannebach's life.
Vermont has had a so-called "death with dignity" law on the books since 2014. Until last year, only a state resident could use it. Lawmakers lifted that requirement in May 2023 after a lawsuit filed by Lynda Bluestein, a Connecticut woman with stage IV cancer who wanted to die in the state. She ultimately did, in January, using the newly passed Vermont law. About two dozen people from out of state have done the same in the past year, data show.
[...]