The Montana Supreme Court said Thursday (12.31.09) that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide, making Montana the third state that will allow the procedure.
Patients and doctors had been waiting for the state’s high court to step in after a lower court decided a year ago that constitutional rights to privacy and dignity protect the right to die.
The Montana Supreme Court opinion will now give doctors in the state the freedom to prescribe the necessary drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill patients without fear of being prosecuted, advocates said.
