In a move that is both ethically profound and (so far, at least) politically rare, Montana has become the third state to legalize physician-assisted suicide.
A divided state supreme court ruled Thursday that neither state law nor public policy prevented doctors from prescribing lethal drugs to terminally-ill patients who want to end their lives.
In essence, the court ruled, suicide is not a crime. The majority justices wrote:
“We find nothing in Montana Supreme Court precedent or Montana statutes indicating that physician aid in dying is against public policy. The ”˜against public policy’ exception to consent has been interpreted by this court as applicable to violent breaches of the public peace. Physician aid in dying does not satisfy that definition. We also find nothing in the plain language of Montana statutes indicating that physician aid in dying is against public policy. In physician aid in dying, the patient ”“ not the physician ”“ commits the final death-causing act by self-administering a lethal dose of medicine.”
The CSM headline is misleading. Montana did not “legalize” physician-assisted suicide. To “legalize” something, it had to be illegal to begin with. The Montana Supreme Court actually held that there is currently no law in Montana prohibiting physician-assisted suicide and declined to decide whether there is a right to suicide under the Montana constitution.
It really just means that the Montana Supreme Court passed a political hot potato to the Montana legislature.
Great! Can you get this on Obamacare?
Over to you, Senator Bacchus! (hic)