Montana allows doctor-assisted suicide

With a decision by its Supreme Court, the US state of Montana joins Oregon and Washington in legalizing medical assistance for the terminally ill who make a choice for what is called Death with Dignity

On December 31, 2009, the Boston Globe, among other sources, reported that the Montana Supreme Court has decided that there is nothing in state law that prevents a patient from seeking a physician's aid for an assisted suicide. The ruling follows an attempt to overturn the 2008 decision by a lower court, which went so far as to say that a terminally ill person had the right to ask a doctor for assistance with ending life. The Supreme Court didn't go that far, but the ruling clearly affirms that there is no single law or constitutional tenet that stands in the way of a doctor prepared to aid a patient in finding a way of dying in privacy and dignity. In other words, MD's in Montana may from now on prescribe drugs to their clients who want to end their lives. There are, of course, vocal critics and opponents who disagree. The organization Americans United for Life, for example, had opposed this possible outcome from the beginning, and they seem to think - according to PR NewsWire - that

This decision endangers the lives of the elderly, the sick, and the disabled.

The organization's senior counselor, William Saunders, further expressed his views in the following words:

"To protect people's lives, the law needs to draw a clear distinction between withdrawing life-sustaining measures and physician assisted suicide. Today's decision blurs that line, which is extremely dangerous. This will have horrendous implications for the most vulnerable citizens in Montana."

Within the US, Oregon was the first state to have legal provisions for physician assisted suicide (since 1997) and Washington followed in 2008. Internationally, the legality, practical hurdles, unwritten (church) rules and general taboos surrounding both suicide and assisted suicide are way too diverse and there's no easy answer as to what is happening, is being done or not done. In fact, there are only three countries worldwide where assisted suicide is completely legal. These are Switzerland (since 1941), the Netherlands (since 1984) and Belgium (since 2002). For an earlier article concerning Death with Dignity, see Digital Journal of December 14th, 2009