Terminally Ill Patients can Now Help Themselves Die!

A New Mexico judge ruled terminally ill patients will now have the right to have doctors prescribe them fatal doses of drugs, helping them die

A New Mexico judge ruled terminally ill patients will now have the right to have doctors prescribe them fatal doses of drugs, helping them die.

The ruling Monday after a two-day trial would make New Mexico the fifth US state to adopt such a policy.

Terminally Ill Cancer Patients Often Delay Discussing End-of-Life Care With Physicians
New research says that the vast majority of patients with incurable lung or colorectal cancer talk with a physician about their options for care at the end of life

"This court cannot envision a right more fundamental, more private or more integral to the liberty, safety and happiness of a New Mexican than the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying,? Judge Nan G. Nash of the Second District Court in Albuquerque wrote, according to the New York Times and other media.

The case was brought by two doctors who sought protection against prosecution if they provided fatal drug prescriptions to a patient, and Aja Riggs. She is a 49-year-old woman with cancer.

Arguing their case were the American Civil Liberties Union and Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group.

Can Terminally Ill People Choose Where They Wish to Die?
A number of surveys have shown the clear preference of terminally ill people, that if they had the choice, they would like to die at home.

They argued that a 1960s state law making it a felony to assist a suicide did not cover doctors helping competent, terminally ill patients who wanted to hasten death.

The state argued that such an action by a doctor was covered by the law.

Hollande Urged to Authorize Doctors to �Accelerate Deaths� for Terminally Ill Patients in France
A new report urges France President Francois Hollande to authorize “accelerated deaths” for terminally ill patients in the country.

Nash said the law did apply but that "the liberty, safety and happiness interest of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying is a fundamental right under our New Mexico Constitution,? The Times said.

The attorney general?s office said it was studying the decision and whether to appeal to the State Supreme Court, the Times said.

Aid-in-dying is permitted in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont. The practice has been hotly debated since it was first adopted in Oregon in 1997.

Source-AFP