Ruling by Montana Supreme Court Bolsters Physician-Assisted Suicide
by Kirk Johnson, New York Times (January 10, 2010)
Last September I posted an article on a Montana man who took his right-to-die case to the Montana State Supreme Court. The case involved 76-year old Robert Baxter who, sadly, died of leukemia before the case made it to the court. I say sadly because it’s clear that Mr. Baxter felt strongly about an individual’s inalienable right to both die on his or her own terms AND to seek out medical assistance with that death.
The Montana State Supreme Court mostly agreed with Mr. Baxter, saying that the current state law does enable doctors to assist with dying BUT the court declined to state that physician-assisted suicide is a Constitutional right.
Here are more articles on the case:
Washington Post: Montana 3rd state to allow doctor-assisted suicide
Christian Science Monitor: Montana becomes third state to legalize physician-assisted suicide
We will see more of these assisted dying cases in the years to come. This much I know.