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A Superior Court judge has rejected a request from two doctors who sought
to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill, mentally competent
patients who asked for help to die peacefully.
In dismissing the doctors' case, Judge Julia Aurigemma wrote that a state
law against assisting suicide applied to physicians helping dying patients
end their lives, and that the issues raised in the doctors' lawsuit should
be addressed by the legislature, not the courts.
"[The statute] is aimed at precisely the situation presented by the
plaintiffs - aiding a terminally ill patient, in unbearable pain, to end
his or her own life - and precisely the situation in which physicians are
most likely to participate," Aurigemma wrote.
The doctors, Ronald Levine and Gary Blick, filed a lawsuit last year
seeking a court ruling to declare that the statute against helping someone
commit suicide would not apply to physicians helping terminally ill
patients end their lives. Doing so was not suicide, but "aid in dying,"
the lawsuit said - a distinction that their attorney Daniel Krisch
explained in court: Suicide is a choice of whether to die or not. Aid in
dying involves not whether a person will die, but when, and how much pain
and suffering the patient must endure first.
But Aurigemma ruled that the doctors' case was barred by sovereign
immunity - a shield against lawsuits against the state - and that the
request was not appropriate for the court to address.
[There are other related stories in the Links section below.]
To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-right-to-die-0608-20100607,0,7285871.story
Also see:
Connecticut: Doctors, Patients Disappointed in Court Decision
[Compassion and Choices blog]
http://compassionandchoices.org/blog/?p=1040
[Note: this story was also printed in last
Monday's EuthaNEWSia.] This page also links to
the full June 2nd judgement dismissing the Blick
case.
Connecticut physicians, terminally ill patients and Compassion & Choices,
the nation's largest and oldest nonprofit organization working to improve
care and expand choice at the end of life, today expressed disappointment
with the recent Blick et al v. Connecticut court decision. On July 2,
2010, Judge Julia Aurigemma ruled to dismiss a case that sought to clarify
the ability of mentally competent, terminally ill patients to obtain aid
in dying from their physician if they find their dying process unbearable.
Attorneys for the State of Connecticut filed a motion to dismiss the case,
which asked whether a physician providing aid in dying is subject to
criminal prosecution under an old nonspecific statute that makes it a
crime to aid another to ‘commit suicide’.
Misleading claims by Final Exit Network
[Baltimore Sun]
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-final-exit-network-letter-20100608,0,1035733.story
Stephen Drake, of the anti-euthanasia group Not
Dead Yet, writes in reaction to the recent
Balimore Sun article by Jerry Dincin, of the Final
Exit Network, in Monday's EuthaNEWSia as
Final
Exit Network: Death with dignity:
Mr. Dincin claims that authorities are "persecuting" FEN members in
Georgia and Arizona. That is a gross distortion. The authorities in
Georgia and Arizona initiated investigations after complaints by concerned
relatives that the apparent suicides of their loved ones were aided and
encouraged by FEN members. That's not "persecution" - it's "doing your
job."
In Georgia, the undercover agent who investigated FEN posing as a cancer
patient asserted he was never asked for his medical records. Further, he
reported that he was told that part of the "help" he would be given
involved a FEN "exit guide" holding his hands down to prevent him from
removing the helium-filled plastic bag meant to cause his death.
In Arizona, the person "helped" was a woman with no serious physical
problems - but who had a history of emotional difficulties. Mr. Dincin
didn't mention that two of the defendants in that case have entered into a
plea bargain and agreed to testify against other FEN members - including
Larry Egbert.
The man "helped" in Georgia was a man successfully treated for cancer, and
who was depressed over the surgical alterations to his physical
appearance. Autopsy found him to be cancer-free.
Becker, Arielle Levin. "Superior Court Judge Dismisses Doctors' Request To Prescribe Lethal Medication To Terminally Ill". Hartford Courant. June 8, 2010. <www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-right-to-die-0608-20100607,0,7285871.story>. Hartford Courant, 285 Broad Street, Hartford, CT 06115, U.S.A.
Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.
assisted suicide
court decision
Compassion & Choices
Connecticut
U.S.A.
The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201006093859.
Mailed: Wednesday, June 9, 2010 14:17:42 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>.
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