Photo courtesy of Swampyank, Creative Commons License
BOSTON (AP) – The highest court in Massachusetts has ruled that allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to mentally competent patients with terminal illnesses is not protected by the state constitution.
The Supreme Judicial Court in Monday’s decision said it recognized the importance and significance of end-of-life decisions, but concluded that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights does not protect medically assisted death, which may amount to manslaughter.
The suit was filed in 2016 by retired physician Roger Kligler of Falmouth who had stage 4 prostate cancer and physician Alan Steinbach, an urgent care provider in Falmouth, who feared prosecution on manslaughter charges if he prescribed end-of-life medications to terminally ill patients.
BY MARK PRATT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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