Montana 3rd US State to Allow Doctor-Assisted Suicide

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.

(...) The Supreme Court decided not to determine whether the Montana Constitution guarantees the right. Instead, it said nothing in state law or the court's precedent indicated it was against public policy -- and pointed to laws giving patients rights to make crucial decisions as a justification for legalizing the assistance.

''The Montana Supreme Court has determined that this is a choice that state law entrusts to Montana patients, not to the government,'' said Compassion & Choices Legal Director Kathryn Tucker, a lawyer on the case. ''Montanans trapped in an unbearable dying process deserve, and will now have, this end-of-life choice.''