Medical Aid in Dying in New Hampshire: Current Legal Status (2026)

If you or a family member is terminally ill and searching for end-of-life options in New Hampshire, you need to know the current legal landscape clearly — because outdated information on this topic is everywhere.

As of 2026, medical aid in dying (MAID) is not authorized in New Hampshire. You cannot legally obtain a prescription for life-ending medication through any state-sanctioned process, and no advance directive can include provisions requesting it.

What Happened with HB 254

During the 2025 legislative session, the New Hampshire General Court introduced House Bill 254, known as The New Hampshire End of Life Freedom Act. The bill aimed to create a legal framework allowing terminally ill, mentally capable adults with a prognosis of six months or less to request life-ending medication from a physician.

HB 254 did not pass. On December 17, 2025, the House laid the bill on the table, and the session ended without passage. No successor legislation has been introduced for the 2026 session.

This places New Hampshire alongside the majority of U.S. states where MAID remains unauthorized. As of 2026, only eleven jurisdictions have enacted medical aid in dying laws: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, Montana (via court ruling), and the District of Columbia.

What This Means for Advance Directive Planning

Because MAID is not authorized in New Hampshire, any provision in an advance directive that attempts to request physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia is legally void. Your healthcare agent cannot request MAID on your behalf, even if you document such a preference in your Living Will.

This does not limit the other treatment decisions your agent can make. Your agent can still:

• Refuse or withdraw life-sustaining treatment — including ventilators, dialysis, and other interventions — when you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious
• Authorize comfort-focused care — prioritizing pain management and symptom relief over curative treatment
• Request a POLST form — converting your preferences into active medical orders that direct providers to limit interventions
• Refuse artificial nutrition and hydration — when documented in the Living Will portion of your directive

The distinction is between allowing a natural death (which is fully authorized under RSA 137-J) and actively hastening death through prescribed medication (which is not).

Palliative Care and Hospice in New Hampshire

For terminally ill patients, the legal end-of-life options in New Hampshire center on palliative care and hospice:

Palliative care focuses on relieving symptoms and improving quality of life at any stage of serious illness. It can be provided alongside curative treatment. New Hampshire hospitals, including Dartmouth Hitchcock and the Southern NH Health system, maintain palliative care programs.

Hospice care is palliative care specifically for patients with a terminal diagnosis and a prognosis of six months or less who have elected to stop curative treatment. Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance in New Hampshire.

Both can be authorized by your healthcare agent under a properly executed advance directive, and both are compatible with POLST orders that limit aggressive interventions.

Planning for Quality of Life at the End

While MAID is not available, New Hampshire law gives patients significant control over the nature of their final care. A well-drafted advance directive with a detailed Living Will can specify:

• Pain management priorities (including accepting sedation if needed for comfort)
• Refusal of specific interventions (CPR, intubation, feeding tubes)
• Preferred care setting (home hospice versus facility-based care)
• When to transition from curative to comfort-focused treatment

These preferences, combined with a POLST or Portable DNR order when clinically appropriate, give terminally ill patients a practical framework for dignity and autonomy within the current legal boundaries.

The New Hampshire Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes treatment preference worksheets that help you document these choices clearly, so your healthcare agent and medical team can honor your values when the time comes.

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