Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
The suicide lobby have filed a case on behalf of two Cape Cod Massachusetts doctors in the Massachusetts Superior Court to give them the right in law to prescribe lethal drugs to assist the suicide of their patients.
According to an article by Ryan Bray of the Cape News:
The suit, which was filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, was filed by Compassion & Choices, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that advocates nationally for allowing doctors to assist patients in dying. The suit was filed on behalf of Dr. Roger M. Kligler, a resident of Falmouth, and Dr. Alan Steinbach, a resident of Woods Hole.
The suit seeks a declaration that assisted suicide, or "medical aid in dying," is not a crime by Massachusetts law. The suit also seeks an injunction protecting from prosecution doctors who provide medical aid in dying.
Dr. Kligler is currently in the late stages of prostate cancer. In a press release from Compassion & Choices released Wednesday, October 26, he argued for the right to medicate himself as needed, given his condition.
"Having a prescription for aid-in-dying medication that I could self-administer if my suffering became too great in the final days would provide great comfort to me," Dr. Kligler said.
In the same release, Dr. Steinbach voiced his desire to be able to discuss assisted suicide as an option with his patients and to assist his patients, as needed, without fear of prosecution from the state.
By Alex Schadenberg
International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
A New York State judge rejected a legal challenge to the state laws that protect people from assisted suicide. The New York Daily News reported that:
state civil judge Joan Kenney said that while she was sympathetic to their plight, their doctors would have to stay on the sidelines.
Kenney said in her ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court has already found that New York state laws prohibit assisted suicide, and the statutes are not in violation of a patients civil rights.
“In New York, as in most states, it is a crime to aid another to commit or attempt suicide,” Kenney said in her ruling. “But patients may refuse lifesaving medical treatment.”
Doctors could face prison time if convicted of aiding a suicide.
The case was based on three people who are seeking to die by assisted suicide in New York.
Judge Kennedy joins three other judges in upholding state assisted suicide laws. In the past few months, a Tennessee Judge upheld the state assisted suicide law, the New Mexico court of appeal and two California judges have upheld laws that protect people from assisted suicide.
 |
| Tennessee |
Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
A Tennessee Judge, today, upheld the state law protecting people from assisted suicide. (Link to the decision).
Chancellor Carol McCoy, ruled today, that former Democrat politician, John Jay Hooker, does not have standing to bring action and challenge the Tennessee assisted suicide law.
The Tennessean reported McCoy as saying:
"The aid-in-dying prescription involves a script for a lethal dose of medication to cause quick death, not to provide palliative care to relieve physical pain and discomfort, as is allowed,"
"If the physicians intend to provide lethal drugs to end their patients' lives, they engage in criminal conduct."
 |
| Chancellor Carol McCoy |
According to the Tennessean, Hooker will continue lobbying for assisted suicide.
Last week, Hooker appeared in a wheelchair before the Davidson County Grand Jury. He presented his case, and asked the grand jury to request the state legislature to support his request to end his life with the help of a willing doctor.
The jury issued its report earlier this week. It showed support for aid-in-dying legislation.
"This Grand Jury overwhelming supports Mr. Hooker's desire to have the laws of Tennessee amended to permit a severely ill patient to have option to end his or her life, thus ending all the pain and suffering for the patient and his or her family," the report reads.
Hooker said he has forwarded the grand jury's report to the members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
In the past year the New Mexico court of appeal and two California judges have upheld laws that protect people from assisted suicide.
