Assisted Suicide Legal Under Montana Law, Court Rules (Update1)

[struggle4progress]

Source: Bloomberg



By Joel Rosenblatt

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Montana, and doctors who help terminally ill patients die are shielded from prosecution, the state Supreme Court ruled.

The case was filed by Robert Baxter, a retired truck driver from Billings who was terminally ill with leukemia, according to court filings. Baxter sought a lethal dose of medication prescribed by his doctors, who joined Baxter in the case challenging whether they could be prosecuted under Montana law for helping mentally competent, terminally ill patients to die.

A lower court ruled last year that Montana’s constitutional privacy and human dignity rights allow for a terminally ill patient to “die with dignity.” The court ruled the patient may use a doctor’s prescription, and that the physician is protected from prosecution under Montana’s homicide laws. Montana appealed the lower court ruling to the state’s high court.

“We find nothing in Montana Supreme Court precedent or Montana statutes indicating that physician aid in dying is against public policy,” the high court said in its opinion ...

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aU0qhkVObeqU

[DesertFlower]

1. i'm a member of "compassion and choices".

i got an e-mail this morning about montana.

[DebbieCDC]

14. Me 2

Good news.

[movonne]

2. This is good news...I would like to see more states do the same..I

live in Oregon and it's legal here..as far as I know we were the only state...

[Judi Lynn]

3. This is a big step forward for the right to die with dignity. Compassionate. Thanks. n/t

[marshall]

4. A future in "suicide tourism"

People take plastic surgery vacations to Thailand and Mexico. The rest of the world take medical vacations to the United States. Montana could have a burgeoning future in end of life care for the terminally ill.

[Downwinder]

5. Thank you Mr. Baxter, RIP. n/t

[tpsbmam]

6. Good news. It'll be interesting to see what

the Supremes do with this -- I wouldn't be surprised to see it there in the not-too-distant future.

K&R

[davidpdx]

11. Well unless one of the conservatives drops dead

It would be a very close vote, probably 5-4. I hope they don't get involved in this one anytime soon.

[ixion]

7. great news...

it would be nice to see more states pass such legislation.

[jmowreader]

8. Was EVERYONE on Baxter's side in this?

The way I'm reading this, Baxter wanted the drugs and Baxter's doctors wanted him to have them if they wouldn't be punished for prescribing them...

I like the verdict, but I wonder how long it's going to be before some "Christian" group comes in and tries to get physician-assisted suicide banned in Montana.

[RedCloud]

9. So the health industrial complex wasn't able to fleece him to the last penny?

[lsewpershad]

10. What about successfully "committing" suicide?

What can our SUPREME court do about it. Maybe people should start stealing the drugs to help them die with dignity. It is illegal to kill oneself but it's OK for a president to send us to our deaths or to kill others. I find this problematic. Maybe it's just me.

[Quantess]

12. Wow. Montana, really?

Good for them.

[jwirr]

13. As long as the patient is terminally ill I see not problem with this law.

When my father was dying of cancer in Iowa my younger brother said he would not come to the hospital unless Dad got enough drugs to stop the suffering. As the oldest the family let me ask for more medications every time he started struggling. Finally the nursing staff asked me if I understood what I was doing. We continued the drugs until he was no longer suffering in anyway. I would do it again.

[Vidar]

15. Bravo Montana!

[Jay C]

16. Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has already ruled that there is no constitutionally protected right to die, and it's up to the states to decide whether they want to allow or prohibit assisted suicide. This point was emphasized in the Glucksburg case, which upheld Washington State's law against assisted suicide. As far as I know, this law is still on the books despite the fact that Washington voters passed the Death with Dignity Act last year. In part, the Death with Dignity Act says that, for purposes of the law, no action taken under Act constitutes suicide or assisted suicide. So there's technically no contradiction between the DDA and the law prohibitiing assisted suicide!

The interesting thing about Montana is that there appears to be no set of rules and regulations governing the dispensation of lethal prescriptions, as there is in Washington and Oregon.