Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Montana Supreme Court did not legalize assisted suicide.

A recent article that was written by William L. Saunders and published by Engage was wrongly titled: The Montana Supreme Court Legalizes Assisted Suicide, in fact argues that the Montana Supreme Court did not actually legalize assisted suicide.

Saunders points out that:
In Baxter v. State, decided December 31, 2009, the Montana Supreme Court did not "constitutionalize" a "right to die" as the lower court had done (Judge Dorothy McCarter). Rather, the court held that physicians who prescribe lethal drugs upon the request of their patients are not subject to criminal liability under the "consent defense" to Montana's homicide law. Thus technically the court did not "legalize" assisted suicide; rather, someone who assists a suicide simply has a "defense" to homicide.


Link to article.

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