Two states where doctor-assisted suicide is legal have gone that route with voter approval. Now, it appears, a third state could join that exclusive club via court decision.
In a decision that hasn't received a lot of attention outside the state yet, a district court in Helena, Mont. (the state capital), ruled Friday that the privacy and human dignity provisions of the Montana Constitution prevent the state from prosecuting doctors who help their terminal patients end their lives. Ironically, the terminal patient who has among the plaintiffs in the case died Friday, the day the decision was issued, without knowing about the ruling.
In Montana, there is no appellate level between the district or trial courts and the state Supreme Court, so chances are that the case (or one similar to it, if it is found that the plaintiff-patient's death makes this particular case moot) will end up before the state's high court. Since federal courts have upheld the right of states to allow assisted suicides, and the trial-level decision was based on the state's constitution, a decision of the Montana Supreme Court likely would be final.
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