Montana Court approves assisted suicide

Judge Dorothy McCarter ruled on Friday (December 5, 2008) that “the Montana constitutional rights of individual privacy and human dignity” give a person who is mentally competent and terminally ill the right to “die with dignity.”

Thus, doctors may prescribe medications to trigger a terminally-ill patient’s death without fear of liability.

The Montana attorney general, Mike McGrath, stated that he expected to file an appeal asserting that the legislature or the citizens should decide whether a person has the right to assisted suicide as has been done in Oregon and Washington.

See AP, Montana Judge Endorses Right to Assisted Suicide, NY Times, Dec. 7, 2008.