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Comments

• Posted by Duane Lueders on Saturday, August 07 at 05:11 p.m.

  I'm a recent DWD supporter. Being from Connecticut, and reading your summary on where a DWD law stands in Connecticut,I thought you could use an update as your summary is out of date. The Blick case was ruled as nonjusticiable by a superior court judge and the Blick camp, fortunately, has decided NOT to appeal. In 2009 our Judiciary Committee decided 37-0 to adopt a DWD law but, for reasons unknown to me, it never got any further. Now that the Blick case is no longer being pursued, it falls back to the legislature to, hopefully, take the matter up next session.

My Thoughts

Montana Death with Dignity

It appears an ugly battle over Death with Dignity legislation may be brewing in Montana. In a complicated 2009 ruling, the Montana Supreme Court determined physician hastened death is not prohibited under current Montana law. In the text of the ruling, the Court did not lay down procedures for implementing Death with Dignity which leaves potential dangers for physicians, patients, and family members that require some sort of statutory or regulatory solution.

Most likely as a result of the murky procedural status, there has been virtually no change in medical practice in the state. Few or no physicians, pharmacists, and/or terminally ill individuals have outwardly discussed their experience under the ruling. Of course, they are not required to do so. Unlike in Oregon and Washington, there is neither state monitoring nor data collection in Montana.

My Thoughts

Photo by Kok Leng Yeo

South Korea's recent decision is being called a legalization of physician-assisted suicide and even euthanasia. It is, however, neither. When a competent patient makes an informed decision to refuse life-sustaining treatment, the person is not requesting a hastened death with medication, and this is wholly different from the Oregon and Washington Death with Dignity Acts.

There is virtual unanimity in US state law and in our medical profession that the patients’ wishes should be respected when they’ve requested to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment. By Supreme Court precedent, withdrawing or withholding life saving treatment has been allowed in the US since 1976.