Montana bill preventing assisted suicide was defeated.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have bad news.

Montana Bill SB 136 was defeated in the Montana House on Wednesday April 9 by a vote of 58 to 42. SB 136 would have reversed Montana's permitting of assisted suicide and returned it to protecting it's citizens.

All of the 42 Democrats and 16 Republicans in the Montana House voted against SB 136. 42 Republicans supported the bill.

Montana was the third State to permit assisted suicide in America. In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montanans have a right to assisted suicide.

The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that there is no right to assisted suicide in Montana but the Court found a "defense of consent" meaning a Montana physician who assists a suicide must prove that there was consent.

After several legislative attempts to undo the wrongly decided and dangerous Baxter decision, it may require another court case to reverse the Baxter decision.

On March 24, the Montana House Judiciary Committee passed SB 136 by a vote of 11 to 9. SB 136 will go to a full vote in the Montana House.

On February 7, The Montana Senate voted 29 to 20, to pass Senate Bill 136 a bill that legislatively declares that there is no defense of consent in Montana.

Article: Montana bill that prohibits assisted suicide passes in the Senate (Link).

Action Alert: A Tale of Two States. Montana and Delaware.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Montana may once again prohibit assisted suicide.

Montana was the third State to permit assisted suicide in America. In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montanans have a right to assisted suicide. 

The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that there is no right to assisted suicide in Montana but the Court found a "defense of consent" meaning a Montana physician who assists a suicide must prove that there was consent. 

On February 7, The Montana Senate voted 29 to 20, to pass Senate Bill 136 a bill that legislatively declares that there is no defense of consent in Montana.

Article: Montana bill that prohibits assisted suicide passes in the Senate (Link).

On March 24, the Montana House Judiciary Committee passed SB 136 by a vote of 11 to 9. SB 136 will go to a full vote in the Montana House. If the bill passes, Governor Greg Gianforte has agreed to sign the bill. Montana could become the first state to reverse access to assisted suicide.

We need everyone to contact members of the Montana House and urge them to support Senate Bill 136. There are 100 members of the Montana House (Montana House Contact List).

Delaware may legalize assisted suicide.

Delaware Legislature

On March 18, Delaware assisted suicide Bill HB 140 passed in the State House by a vote of 21 to 17. HB 140 will now move to the Delaware State Senate.

In 2024, an identical assisted suicide bill passed in the State House by a vote of 21 to 16 and then passed in the Senate by a vote of 11 to 10. Last September Delaware Governor John Carney votoed the assisted suicide bill, saving Delaware citizens from assisted suicide.

Governor Carney completed his term as Governor. The new Delaware Governor, Matt Meyer has stated that he supports assisted suicide.

Therefore Delaware assisted suicide Bill HB 140 must be defeated in the Senate. 

We need everyone to contact every member of the Delaware State Senate and urge them to vote NO to assisted suicide Bill HB 140. There are 21 members of the Delaware Senate. (Delaware State Senator Contact List).

Some good arguments opposing HB 140 include:

People with eating disorders are dying by assisted suicide. 

An article by Jennifer Brown that was published in the Colorado Sun on March 14, 2022 reported that Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an internal medicine doctor who specializes in eating disorders published a paper on how she was prescribing assisted suicide for people with Anorexia Nervosa in Colorado. Gaudiani approved assisted suicide for Anorexia Nervosa by falsely defining the condition as terminal.

Nearly every state that has legalized assisted suicide, has expanded their law. 

HB 140 claims to be a "tightly worded" bill. The assisted suicide lobby uses a "bait and switch" technique to sell assisted suicide with a "tightly worded bill" and if the bill passes they pressure the state to expand their laws or force them to expand their law with a court case later. (Article Link).

Assisted suicide creates two tier medicine

Some suicidal people are offered suicide prevention while others are provided assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is inherently discriminatory.

We believe in caring for people not killing them.

Assisted suicide is an act of providing a poison cocktail to someone who is living with suicidal ideation, often related to their health concerns. 

 

Assisted suicide constitutes killing. We believe in caring for people at their time of need.

Assisted suicide is not about autonomy but rather it medically abandons a person to death.

Zoom event (March 10): Update on assisted suicide in America.

Join Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition on Monday, March 10, 2025 at 2 pm (Eastern Time) for an EPC Zoom event:  Update on assisted suicide in America.

Register in advance for the Zoom event: (Registration Link)

The Zoom event will:

• Outline the states that have legalized assisted suicide and explain the bills that are being debated to expand the assisted suicide laws in those states.
• Discuss the Montana assisted suicide debate and Bill 136, that if passed, will make Montana the first state to reverse it's acceptance of assisted suicide.
• Discuss the many state Bills to legalize assisted suicide.
• Provide talking points to oppose legalizing assisted suicide in America.
• Discuss the successful West Virginia Amendment 1 referendum.
• Promote state resolutions that condemn assisted suicide.
• Provide time and opportunity for questions.

Register in advance for this Zoom event: (Registration Link)

Washington state Bill HB 1876 permits non-doctors to assist suicides.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Washington State Bill HB 1876 will expand the state assisted suicide law by permitting physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to participate in assisting suicide by expanding the definition of "attending qualified medical provider." The bill also permits the "attending qualified medical provider" to waive the 7 day waiting period within the law to enable a same day death.

The assisted suicide lobby is trying to expand assisted suicide laws in Vermont, Oregon and Washington state by expanding who can assist a suicide and to waive the waiting periods. 

The good news is that Montana Senate Bill 136 that will reverse Montana's assisted suicide acceptance and once again prohibit assisted suicide passed in the Montana Senate on February 7 and will soon be debated in the Montana House. If SB 136 passes, Montana will be the first state to reverse assisted suicide and prohibit it again.

On January 30, I published an article concerning Vermont Bill 75 that expands Vermont's assisted suicide law for the third time by allowing (non doctors) naturopathic physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to participate in assisting a suicide.

On February 12, I published an article concerning Oregon Bill SB 1003 that expands Oregon's assisted suicide law for the third time by allowing (non doctors) physician assistants and nurse practitioners to participate in assisting a suicide. SB 1003 also reduces the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours while enabling the "providing prescriber" to waive the waiting period to essentially allow a same day death.

The assisted suicide lobby is responding to the fact that very few doctors are willing to be involved with killing patients. By adding physician assistants and nurse practitioners they increase the number of providers who are willing to be involved with killing.

The assisted suicide lobby is wanting to eliminate the waiting periods for assisted suicide to enable a "same day death." No need to wait to pick up your lethal poison cocktail, no chance to change your mind.

When the assisted suicide lobby is trying to legalize assisted suicide they sell the "safeguards" in the bill. This is the "bait and switch" sales technique that is used by the assisted suicide lobby. 

Once legal, assisted suicide laws inevitably expand (Article Link). 

In 2025, assisted suicide legalization bills have already been introduced in Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee.

The assisted suicide lobby is focusing on Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York.

Montana Senate passes bill that will stop assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article by Darrell Ehrlick that was published in the Bozeman Daily Chronical on February 7 covered the debate on Montana Bill SB 136 that passed by a vote of 29 to 20 (one abstained) on February 7 in the Montana Senate.

Contact members of the Montana House and urge them to vote YES on SB 136. (List of legislative members). Bill SB 136 known as the doctor patient restoration act will restore the trust relationship between doctors and patients.

Article: Montana bill to stop assisted suicide passes in the Senate (Link)

Ehrlick reported what Senator Carl Glimm, the sponsor of SB 136 stated:

Senator Carl Glimm

“It will just keep growing and growing,” Glimm said, citing cases where a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder “was talked into suicide.”

Glimm said he worried that others with physical or intellectual disabilities would be targeted, a concerned shared by other members of his caucus.

Ehrlick reported the following comments by Senator Daniel Emrich:

“That this is a peaceful way to go out is a fallacy. The drug cocktails they give them contain paralytics and these, without other drugs, will make them suffocate and die,” said Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls. “The reason they give them paralytics is to cover up these people would be flailing in place.”

He said the message the Legislature is sending is even more dangerous:

“We’re telling them they’re not worthy to be on this earth. That they should just go away because they’re inconvenient. That they have some disability or ailment or we just don’t want them any more because they’re wasting away.”

The comments by Senator Bob Phalen were also interesting. Ehrlick reported:

Sen. Bob Phalen, R-Lindsay, questioned how the Montana Legislature could halt lethal injections for death row inmates out of a fear that the drugs would cause suffering or prolong death, but support physician assisted death.

“It is inhumane then, but now it’s OK?” Phalen asked.

SB 136 prevents assisted suicide by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide. SB 136 states:

(3) (a) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), physician aid in dying is against public policy, and a patient's consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense to a charge of homicide against the aiding physician.  

(b) (i) For the purposes of this subsection (3), "physician aid in dying" means an act by a physician of prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life.  

(ii) The term does not include an act of withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment or procedure authorized pursuant to Title 50, chapter 9 or 10."

Contact Montana State Senators and urge them to vote YES on SB 136 at the third and final reading. (List of legislative members).

Montana bill to prohibit assisted suicide passes in the Senate.

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Senator Carl Glimm

Great News. 

The Montana Senate voted 29 to 20, to pass Senate Bill 136. on February 7. SB 136 is sponsored by Montana State Senator, Carl Glimm to prevent assisted suicide.

Contact Montana State Senators and urge them to vote YES on SB 136 at the third and final reading. (List of legislative members).

Montanans have a confusing legal situation concerning assisted suicide. 

In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montanans have a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that there is not a right to assisted suicide in Montana but the Court found a "defense of consent" meaning a Montana physician who assists a suicide must prove that there was consent. Senate Bill 136 legislatively declares that there is no defense of consent.

Article: Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Since the Baxter decision, the assisted suicide lobby claims that assisted suicide is legal in Montana while assisted suicide remains technically prohibited. Montanans are dying by assisted suicide.

SB 136 will prevent assisted suicide by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide. Among other things SB 136 states:

(3) (a) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), physician aid in dying is against public policy, and a patient's consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense to a charge of homicide against the aiding physician.  

    (b) (i) For the purposes of this subsection (3), "physician aid in dying" means an act by a physician of prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life.  

    (ii) The term does not include an act of withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment or procedure authorized pursuant to Title 50, chapter 9 or 10."

Contact Montana State Senators and urge them to vote YES on SB 136 at the third and final reading. (List of legislative members).

Montana Senate Bill 136 would prevent assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Senator Carl Glimm

Montana State Senator, Carl Glimm introduced Senate Bill 136. SB 136 will prevent assisted suicide by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide.

Montanans have a confusing legal situation concerning assisted suicide. 

In 2009, the Baxter lower court decision declared that Montanans have a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that Montanans do not have a right to assisted suicide but the Court found a defense of consent, meaning, a Montana physician who assists a suicide must prove that there was consent. 

Article: Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Since the Montana Baxter decision, the assisted suicide lobby claims that assisted suicide is legal in Montanaw while assisted suicide remains technically prohibited. Montanans have been dying by assisted suicide.

SB 136 will prevent assisted suicide by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide. Among other things SB 136 states:

(3) (a) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), physician aid in dying is against public policy, and a patient's consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense to a charge of homicide against the aiding physician.  

    (b) (i) For the purposes of this subsection (3), "physician aid in dying" means an act by a physician of prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life.  

    (ii) The term does not include an act of withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment or procedure authorized pursuant to Title 50, chapter 9 or 10."

Contact Montana State Senators and urge them to vote YES on SB 136. (List of legislative members).

Specifically contact the members of the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee immediately: 

Usher, Barry (Chair) (R) Ricci, Vince (VCh) (R) Andrea Olsen (VCh) (D) Emrich, Daniel (R) Lammers, Gayle (R) Manzella, Theresa (R) Neumann, Cora (D) Olsen, Andrea (D) Smith, Laura (D) Vinton, Sue (R)

Twenty five years of the ‘Oregon model’ of assisted suicide: the data is not reassuring

This article was published by the British Medical Journal of Medical Ethics on October 27, 2023.

By David Jones

On 27 October 1997, ‘physician-assisted suicide became a legal medical option for terminally ill Oregonians’. There are now 25 years of reports on the implementation of the Death With Dignity (DWD) Act. These give some insight into how the practice has changed since it was first introduced. The reports are all available online and an article has just been published analysing all 25 years. What do these reports show?

First and most obviously there has been a dramatic increase in numbers from 16 in 1998 to 278 in 2022. At the same time, the proportion referred for psychiatric evaluation prior to assisted suicide has dropped from 31.3% to 1.1%.

The 25-year review also highlights changes in the drugs used and in the rate of complications. Between 2010 and 2022 complications were reported on average in 11% of cases. In 2022, reported complications fell to 6%. Unfortunately this is not so reassuring as it seems, as an increasing percentage of data on complications is missing. In 2022 there was no data on complications for 74% of cases.

The reports also show shifts in the reasons given for seeking assisted death, with more citing the fear of being a burden and more citing financial concerns. The figures vary from year to year but in both cases the trend is clear. The increasing number of people seeking death because they feel they are a burden to others does not speak well of changes in social attitudes in Oregon since the DWD Act came into force.

Another shift evident in these reports relates to language. The first sentence of the first report refers to ‘physician assisted suicide’. This phrase is used in the first line of every report until the ninth report for 2006. This change in language was not associated with any change in practice in Oregon but it may have reflected political efforts in other States to pass similar laws. After 9 years Oregon was still the only State in the United States to have legalised physician assisted suicide. This political motivation is acknowledged by the philosopher Gerald Dworkin, an advocate of such laws: ‘the use of the term “Physician-assisted suicide” is now politically incorrect, for tactical reasons. I understand that the popular prejudice against suicide makes it more difficult to rally support for the bills I favor.’

The term ‘assisted suicide’ nevertheless remains the ordinary term in Europe and was used by Margo MacDonald MSP for the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill she introduced in November 2013. That bill, which was rejected by the Scottish Parliament, was largely based on Oregon’s DWD Act. In 2017, the American Association of Suicidology adopted a statement opposing the characterising of assisted deaths as ‘suicide’. However, in March this year that statement was quietly ‘retired’, a move welcomed by some disability groups. The language of physician assisted suicide remains in use by the American Medical Association. It also has the advantage of distinguishing self-administration of lethal drugs (assisted suicide) from administration by doctors (euthanasia).

If political debates outside Oregon influenced its shift in use of language, they may also account for the recent expansion of the DWD Act. Before 2016 there were only three States with such legislation (Oregon, Washington, Vermont) and one where assisted suicide was legal through case law (Montana). However, by 2021 there were ten jurisdictions with statute laws plus Montana where assisted suicide remained legal by case law. It is remarkable that, before 2019 neither Oregon nor any other jurisdiction in the United States had amended their law on physician assisted suicide. However, in the four years since 2020, there have been seven amendments to such laws across five states: in Oregon in 2020 and 2023; in Vermont 2022, and 2023; in California in 2022; in Washington in 2023; and in Hawaii in 2023 and an amendment has been introduced in New Jersey. This amounts to six out of the ten jurisdictions with such legislation. All these changes expand access, for example, waive waiting times, allow nurses to prescribe the lethal medication, or drop residency requirements. Until 2019 it had been possible to argue that there was ‘no evidence of a “slippery slope”’ because ‘The Oregon law has remained unchanged since 1997’. This is no longer true. In recent years there has been a wave of expansion of such laws and further expansion is surely to be expected.

This increase in the number of States with assisted suicide and increase in number of deaths has also allowed more data on the secondary impact of legislation. In 2015 there were some indications of an association between legalisation of physician assisted suicide in the United States and increases in unassisted suicide. However, the association was not statistically significant once linear trends were included. In contrast, US data analysed in 2022 by two different methods showed a statistically significant increase in unassisted suicide after physician assisted suicide was introduced. Association does not, of course, demonstrate causation, but neither is such an association grounds for reassurance.

We now have twenty five years of data from Oregon and data from an increasing number of other States with similar laws. However, the more we know, the less reassuring the ‘Oregon model’ of assisted suicide seems to be.

David Jones is the Director, Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Professor of Bioethics; St Mary’s University, Twickenham; Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford 

Montana Bill to prohibit assisted suicide fails in the Montana Senate.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Joshua Margolis reported on February 21 for NBC Montana that Bill SB 210, a bill that would prohibit assisted suicide in Montana, passed in the Senate at Second reading by a 26 to 24 vote.

Mara Silvers reported for The Montana Free Press on February 22, that SB 210 was defeated at third reading was defeated by a narrow margin after a few Senators flipped their votes.

Over the past few years Montanans have had a confusing situation concerning assisted suicide.

In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montanans had a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that Montanans do not have a right to assisted suicide but the Court found a defense of consent. Therefore, if a Montana physician assists a suicide the physician must prove that there was consent.

• Article: Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Senator Carl Glimm

In 2023, Montana State Senator, Carl Glimm sponsored Bill SB 210 to reverse the Montana Supreme Court decision by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide.

Margolis reported:

Senate Bill 210 would change Montana code to state that a physician “purposefully and knowingly prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient” is against public policy. It also states that a patient’s consent cannot be used as a defense if the physician is charged with homicide.

Margolis quoted Senator Carl Glimm, the sponsor of the bill that:

“This needs to be the solution. We need to be consistent in our message and tell the citizens of Montana that suicide is not the answer,”

Margolis also reported that:

The bill had its initial committee hearing on Feb. 1 in the Senate Judiciary and passed its first reading along party lines the following week. A third reading is expected on February 22, and it would then head to the House if approved.

Efforts to pass similar bills in previous legislative sessions have been unsuccessful, but this bill has the vocal support of Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras.

EPC-USA supported SB 210 and thank Senator Glimm for standing up against assisting a suicide.

Seven states are debating the legalization of assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Anita Cameron (center)

James Reinl, social affairs columnist for the Daily Mail, wrote an article that was published on February 11, 2023 concerning the assisted suicide debate in 7 US states. The article interviews several people with personal stories related to assisted suicide.

The story begins by interviewing Anita Cameron, who is a leader of the disability rights group, Not Dead Yet. Her mother Anita Bozeman was told, in 2009, that she had terminal lung cancer and her doctor hinted that assisted suicide would be an option. Bozeman, who said that she was 'too ornery to die' lived another 12 years and died at home in February 2021. Cameron told Reinl:

I'm just so thankful. We wouldn't have had 11 years and 10 months more of my mom, to see her grandkids get married and have kids,'

Cameron says that she is frightened as the 10 US states that have legalized assisted suicide are loosening their rules and may soon become like Canada. Reinl reported:

Meanwhile, some of the 10 states that already allow medical aid-in-dying (MAiD) are loosening their rules, by cutting wait times, letting nurses join doctors in prescribing lethal drugs, and by letting out-of-staters visit to end their lives.

Reinl reports that not only are the states that have legalized assisted suicide loosening their rules but some people who are dying by assisted suicide that don't technically qualify. Reinl writes:

Some Americans who receive fatal doses do not appear to meet the requirements.

Last year, Dr Jennifer Gaudiani, who treats eating disorders, stoked controversy by prescribing lethal doses to three patients with anorexia nervosa — a mental health and body image condition that often sees sufferers starve themselves.

One 36-year-old woman died after ingesting the drugs. Dr Gaudiani, who still practices, argued that anorexia, while not as severe as cancer, is brutally lethal for sufferers.

Still, even pro-MAiD groups criticized her for doling out drugs to folks with psychiatric illnesses.

Cases of diabetics also qualifying for assisted deaths have raised similar concerns. 

The concept of "dying with dignity" was also challenged by Reinl who wrote about how the assisted suicide drugs have a failure rate.

in Oregon in 2021, five MAiD patients vomited after ingesting pills, and one person passed out but later regained consciousness. 

Most people died within 30 minutes, but others took more than 100 hours to perish.

A report last year in the British Medical Bulletin found that it was not always a 'Hollywood-style peaceful and painless death,' citing the example of a Colorado cancer sufferer who took nine hours to die after much 'choking and coughing.'

Reidl reports that assisted suicide legalization bills are currently being debated in 7 states:

Sympathetic lawmakers have introduced MAiD bills this session in Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Others may come to Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada.

Further to that assisted suicide expansion bills are being debated in Hawaii, Washington state, Oregon and Vermont. Reidl explains that Oregon and Vermont have bills to remove their state assisted suicide residency requirement permitting assisted suicide nationally. Already one resident of Texas has died by assisted suicide in Oregon.

Reidl reports that Montana is debating a bill to once again prohibit assisted suicide and Virginia has already debated and defeated an assisted suicide legalization bill.

Reidl finishes his article by telling the stories of Brianna Hammon who lives with cerebral palsy, Christopher, whose dad died by assisted suicide, John Kelly who lives with quadriplegia after an accident in 1984, and Anita Cameron, whose mother rejected assisted suicide and lived another 12 years.

Montana Bill (SB 210) prohibits assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Over the past few years Montanans have had a confusing situation concerning assisted suicide. 

In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montanans had a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that Montanans do not have a right to assisted suicide but the Court found a defense of consent. Therefore, if a Montana physician assists a suicide the physician must prove that there was consent.

Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

State Senator Carl Glimm

Since the Montana Supreme Court decision, the assisted suicide lobby has claimed that assisted suicide is legal in Montana. Even though assisted suicide is technically prohibited, Montanans have been dying by assisted suicide.

In 2023, Montana State Senator, Carl Glimm has introduced Bill SB 210 to reverse the effect of the Montana Supreme Court decision by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide.

Bill (SB 210) to reverse Baxter and prohibit assisted suicide will be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb 1. Written testimony supporting SB 210 must be submitted by February 1 at: (Link).

SB 210 states:

3 (a) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), physician aid in dying is against public policy, and a patient's consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense to a charge of homicide against the aiding physician.

3 (b) (1) For the purposes of this subsection (3), "physician aid in dying" means an act by a physician of purposefully prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life.

3 (b) (ii) The term does not include an act of withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment or procedure authorized pursuant to Title 50, chapter 9 or 10."

SB 210 effectively closes the loophole and prevents assisted suicide in Montana.

Written testimony supporting SB 210 must be submitted by February 1 at: (Link).

Massachusetts Court case seeks to legalize assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Masslive published a report by Shira Schoenberg concerning the court case that has been launched to overturn the Massachusetts assisted suicide law. According to Schoenberg, Roger Kligler, who is living with cancer, and Dr. Alan Steinbach launched a lawsuit to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts.

This is not the first time similar lawsuits have been filed. There have been several lawsuits that were simply dismissed by the court, while others were heard with the finding that there is no right to assisted suicide.

The Baxter case in Montana didn't legalize assisted suicide but the Montana Supreme Court created a "defense of consent" for Montana physicians and an activist judge in New Mexico found a right to assisted suicide in that state, but her decision was overturned by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Schoenberg reported that Kligler and Steinbach asked the court to overturn the Massachusetts assisted suicide law:

Kligler and Alan Steinbach, a doctor who wants to write lethal prescriptions for terminally ill patients, have sued Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, arguing that criminal prosecution of a doctor for prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a competent, terminally ill patient is illegal under the state constitution. Today, a Massachusetts doctor who prescribes a lethal dose of medication could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Schoenberg reported that the Massachusetts Attorney General believes that the issue of assisted suicide is properly a legislative decision. The article reported:

Assistant Attorney General Robert Quinan said Healey has not taken a position on whether physician-assisted suicide is good or bad policy. But, he said, it is not for Healey — or the court — to decide. The plaintiffs, he said, want “to resolve through litigation a policy dispute that’s properly reserved for the Legislature.”

Nancy Houghton and John Kelly

Disability rights activists, John Kelly from the disability right group Second Thoughts and Nancy Houghton from the disability rights group ADAPT told Schoenberg in the interview:

“There’s no safeguard in place or possible that could prevent the loss of lives due to misdiagnosis, insurer treatment denial, depression and coercion and other forms of abuse,” said John Kelly, director of Second Thoughts Massachusetts, a group of disability rights advocates who oppose assisted suicide. 

Nancy Houghton, who is on the board of the Massachusetts chapter of the disability rights group ADAPT, said she was told she had three to five years to live when she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease. That was 15 years ago.

“If I had listened to the doctors back then, I could be dead now,” she said.

There is no right to assisted suicide in the US or Massachusetts. Legalizing assisted suicide gives doctors the right in law to be involved with killing their patients.

Montana Bill prohibiting assisted suicide passes in the House

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Great news: Montana House Bill 284 (HB 284) passed in the Judiciary House ensuring that it will be debated and voted in the Montana Senate. The debate on the bill may happen later this week.

It is interesting that the media have been silent on the success of HB 284.

Montanans have faced a confusing situation concerning assisted suicide. In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montana citizens had a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that Montana citizens do not have a right to assisted suicide but even but the Court granted a tightly worded defense of consent, if a physician was prosecuted for assisted suicide.

* Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Since the Montana Supreme Court decision, the assisted suicide lobby has claimed that assisted suicide is legal in Montana, while in fact assisted suicide is technically prohibited.

HB 284 reverses the Montana Supreme Court Baxter decision by clarifying that consent is not a defense for homicide or assisted suicide.

The assisted suicide lobby sent out an emergency appeal today calling HB 284 the physician imprisonment act. The assisted suicide lobby is confirming that assisted suicide is not legal in Montana.

Assisted suicide abandons people at their time of greatest human need.

Montana bill (HB 284) would prohibit assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

For the past few years Montanans have faced a confusing situation concerning assisted suicide. In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montana citizens had a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court where it was decided that Montana citizens do not have a right to assisted suicide but even but the Court granted a tightly worded defense of consent, if a physician was prosecuted for assisted suicide.

Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Since the Montana Supreme Court decision, the assisted suicide lobby has claimed that assisted suicide is legal in Montana, while in fact assisted suicide is technically prohibited.

This year House Bill 284 was introduced to reverse the effect of the Montana Supreme Court decision by clarifying that consent is ineffective for homicide or assisted suicide. HB 284 states:

Section 1. Section 45-2-211, MCA, is amended to read: "45-2-211. Consent as defense. 

(1) The consent of the victim to conduct charged to constitute an offense or to the result thereof is a defense. 

(2) Consent is ineffective if:
(a) it is given by a person who is legally incompetent to authorize the conduct charged to constitute the offense;
(b) it is given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or disorder, or intoxication is unable to make a reasonable judgment as to the nature or harmfulness of the conduct charged to constitute the offense;
(c) it is induced by force, duress, or deception; or
(d) it is against public policy to permit the conduct or the resulting harm, even though consented to.

(3) (a) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), physician aid in dying is against public policy, and a patient's consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense to a charge of homicide against the aiding physician.
(b) For the purposes of this subsection (3), "physician aid in dying" means an act by a physician of prescribing a lethal dose of medication to a patient that the patient may self-administer to end the patient's life. The term does not include an act of withholding or withdrawing a life-sustaining treatment or procedure authorized pursuant to Title 50, chapter 9 or 10."

Two years ago, a similar bill lost on a tie vote.

Montana assisted suicide vote defeated in error.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

For the past few years Montana has faced a confusing situation with respect to assisted suicide. In 2009, the Baxter court decision declared that Montana citizens had a right to assisted suicide. The Baxter decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court that decided that Montana citizens do not have a right to assisted suicide but even though the Court did not overturn the statute protecting Montana citizens from assisted suicide the Court did grant a tightly worded defense of consent, if a physician was prosecuted for assisted suicide.

• Physician-Assisted Suicide is not legal in Montana.

Since the Montana Supreme Court decision, the assisted suicide lobby has claimed that assisting a suicide is legal in Montana, but in fact assisted suicide is technically prohibited.

This year Rep Brad Tschida introduced House Bill 365 that stated consent is not a defense in assisting a suicide. HB 365 would have clarified that assisting a suicide is prohibited in Montana.

Last Wednesday, HB 365 failed on the final vote in a 50 to 50 tie vote, and yet HB 365 had the votes to pass. According to the Missoulian Rep Peggy Webb accidentally voted against HB 365 on the final vote.

“It was a mistake,” said Rep. Peggy Webb, R-Billings, who changed from a vote for the bill Tuesday to a vote against Wednesday. “I hit yes and then thought, ‘No, I don’t want assisted suicide,’ and changed the vote. It was too late to change it back.” Her vote went from yes to no. 

Votes can’t be changed if they would alter the outcome of the vote, which was the case with Webb's vote. House Bill 365 was carried by Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Missoula.

Considering the fact that the media is constantly brainwashing the public with the message that Americans want assisted suicide, it is a sad reality that HB 365 died on a failed vote.

Thank you to the Montanans Against Assisted Suicide for all of their work.

Montana death: Murder or Assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Independent Record in Helena Montana reported today on a case of a woman who killed a man, by strangulation, because he had asked to die.

The woman accused of killing a man in Billings on Tuesday night says she strangled the man because he told her he wanted to die and she had wanted to try killing someone with her "bare hands."

Penelope Strong, Haugen's defense attorney was reported to state:

"We're likely looking at an assisted suicide defense for Ms. Haugen,"

Lindsay Haugan

The Independent Record reported:

(Lindsay) Haugen ... and (Robert) Mast had been dating since August, and they were traveling from Olympia, Washington, to North Dakota, but had stopped at a Billings Wal-Mart to eat some pizza and drink some wine. 

The pair were sitting in the parking lot in Haugen's car when Mast told her he wanted to die. 

Haugen said if he was serious, she could make it happen. Mast told Haugen he was serious. 

Haugen climbed into the back of the car and put her arm around Mast's neck as he sat in the passenger seat. She described in detail the process of Mast's death to officers and said at one point he began to foam at the mouth. According to charging documents, she said she held his mouth and nose shut for at least 20 minutes.

If the content in this article is causing you to have suicidal thoughts contact Your Life Counts.

I am interested in this story because Mast's lawyer says that she will use assisted suicide as a defense for murder. Assisted suicide is not legal in Montana, but the Montana Supreme Court, in its Baxter decision, gave physicians a defense of consent. When assisted suicide is legalized, defense lawyer's can defend a murder charge by arguing it was an assisted suicide.

I will continue to follow this case.

Pushing the Courts to Impose Assisted Suicide

This article was published by Wesley Smith on his blog on August 12, 2015.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley Smith

The suicide pushers want to win by any means possible. 

Hence, Kathryn Tucker, the lawyer who brought the Glucksberg case, wants judges to impose assisted suicide legalization on us all. From, the California Lawyer story on the so far unsuccessful fight here to pass an Oregon-style assisted suicide law: 

Director Tucker of the Disability Rights Legal Center called SB 128 an “outdated approach, seeking to replicate a measure adopted 21 years ago in Oregon.” In her view, litigation would be more effective than legislation. For example, if the plaintiffs prevail in Brody, Tucker says, “the same open practice of aid in dying will emerge in California … [without] burdensome requirements for collecting and reporting data.” 

Ah, the cat is out of the bag! These were the very “guidelines” that Tucker once said was so important to protect against abuses. 

DO YOU NOT SEE NOW that the suicide fanatics are running a con about “guidelines?” They are merely an expedient to be ignored or discarded as soon as society swallows their hemlock. 

Hopefully, that might not be so easy. 

Way back in 1997, in Glucksberg v. Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court found–9-0!–that there is not a constitutional right to assisted suicide. 

Florida State Supreme Court agreed with regard to state law. So did Alaska’s. Connecticut trial court agreed. Ditto a recent California trial court, among others. 

Heck, even Montana’s Supreme Court, which issued one of the most muddled confusing decisions I have ever read, did not find a constitutional right to assisted suicide. 

Then, a New Mexico trial judge wanted to make history. But she was overturned in the New Mexico Court of Appeals, in a long decision that hearkens quite a bit to the Glucksberg case. From the Washington Times story: 

The New Mexico Court of Appeals handed a defeat to the right-to-die movement Tuesday by striking down a lower-court ruling establishing physician-assisted suicide.  

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that the district court had erred when it determined that “aid in dying is a fundamental liberty interest.” “We conclude that aid in dying is not a fundamental liberty interest under the New Mexico Constitution,” said Judge Timothy L. Garcia in the majority opinion.; 

Good. IF this horrible idea is to become law, it should be done through democratic processes. 

Next time an assisted suicide promises guidelines to protect against abuse, remember Tucker’s disdain for the very concept.

• Great News: The New Mexico Court of Appeals struck down an activist assisted suicide decision, upholding protections in law from assisted suicide.