[Right_to_die] Montana becomes 3rd US state with legal assisted suicide -- but fight ahead

[World right-to-die news (nonprofit)]

A web site called MontanaWithKids.com reported this on 17 Feb 09. It 
seems to me to be accurate except for saying in the fourth paragraph 
that there is no evidence of the proper medication: Oregon has been 
practicing its law  for ten years.

Death with Dignity Officially Legal in Montana

Helena, MT - Montana is officially the third state to allow assisted 
suicide, according to ruling by Helena District Judge Dorothy McCarter. 
She moved to allow the practice in December and again in January, 
dismissing a request for an injunction during an appeal. Judge McCarter 
decided in December that the terminally ill patient Robert Baxter can 
self-administer lethal drugs provided by a physician.

Since this case sets a precedent, what’s legally permissible for Mr. 
Baxter is automatically legal for all.

Montana State Attorney General Mike McGrath filed an appeal of the 
decision and requested an injunction – to prevent others statewide from 
attempting assisted suicide – while the appeal is considered.

Although assisted suicide may be legal, there are no clinical studies to 
evidence the proper medication or dosage for intentional death. As such, 
there is the potential for significant margins of error, with unknowable 
outcomes. Doctors familiar with assisted suicide in other states have 
suggested that a massive dose of barbiturates is sufficient to put a 
patient to sleep, with respiratory failure to follow within 20-30 
minutes of becoming unconscious, but they have yet to state what a 
“massive dose” is in measurable terms.

McCarter rejected the appeal, and her ruling means assisted suicides can 
move ahead as of last month without patients or doctors fearing 
prosecution on charges of murder… Well, the patients don’t much fear 
prosecution, since theirs are already death sentences, but prescribing 
doctors stand much to lose..

Missoula Democratic Representative Dick Barrett, has submitted a bill to 
allow legally assisted suicide.

Religious conservatives are vehemently opposed to assisted suicide, and 
are calling in to state legislators in what they are calling “record 
numbers,” though no verification of this claim is available.

Republicans and Democrats alike face a tricky reconciliation, since many 
hold opposing views in terms of pro-life/pro-choice, pro-death penalty, 
anti-death with dignity, and constitutionally mandatory rights to bear 
arms, even if those bearing the arms are drug addicts.

Following the decision, some called on the Montana Medical Association 
to intervene, but the organization refused to get involved. 
Organizations have criticized the MMA for not submitting an amicus brief 
demanding the ruling be overturned.

Montana now joins Oregon and Washington as the only three states in the 
nation to allow assisted suicides, though the practice is legal and 
acceptable in many other countries around the world.