Virginia may not really be so different. A friend here told me not long ago that a friend of hers who lived in Virginia had died. She'd been called by the woman's doctor, on the woman's instructions. The woman had had breast cancer in the past, and a lot of strong chemo to cure it. That worked, but it also weakened the woman's heart. She developed congestive heart failure that got worse and worse. In the end, she asked her doctor what she could do. And he agreed to give her two pills. The first would put her to sleep; the second would eventually stop her heart. It might take a few days, but she'd be in a coma. And she died, pretty quickly.
I was struck by the story, because I'd recently ended up reading a story--I don't know how; I wasn't looking for anything like it--by a woman who, with friends, had been invited to a party given by an old friend, to celebrate her death. The woman had ALS; she couldn't walk, or even speak anymore. But she wanted to give her friends mementos, and to have one last good time together.
And then her caregiver gave her two pills... Needless to say, I think it happens quite a lot even in states where it isn't officially legal, and always has.
