Assisted suicide case to move forward after judge rejects dismissal
Attorney General Maura Healey's motion to dismiss a lawsuit on physician-assisted suicide was rejected.
A case that questions whether or not Massachusetts physicians should be allowed to provide medical aid to dying patients will move forward after a superior court judge rejected a motion to dismiss.
The lawsuit was filed in October on behalf of Cape Cod physician Dr. Alan Steinbach and Dr. Roger Kligler, who is suffering from stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, according to Compassion & Choices, the Denver advocacy group representing the doctors. Steinbach has said he would be willing to provide information or write prescriptions for medical aid in dying for his patients, including Kligler, if it weren’t for the threat of criminal prosecution.
Attorney General Maura Healey and Cape and the Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe filed to have the case dismissed because no one is threatening to prosecute Steinbach for manslaughter. The plaintiffs were merely seeking an advisory opinion, no prosecution could happen unless Kligler actually took medication prescribed by Steinbach, and any decision the court makes won’t be able to completely resolve the case, they argued.
However, the court cited two articles -- one in the Cape Cod Times and one in the New Boston Post -- where O’Keefe was quoted as saying that state law prohibits physician-assisted suicide. He told the Cape Cod Times state law prohibits physician-assisted suicide, and that murder would be the resulting charge, according to the court decision.
The court found that O’Keefe’s comments demonstrate a threat of prosecution to physicians who might want to advise their patients on medically-assisted dying and ordered that the case move forward.
“We need the court to clarify the law because the prosecution threat is real to physicians who provide medical aid in dying to terminally ill patients … and patients’ senseless suffering without this option is equally real,” said John Kappos, a partner at international law firm O’Melveny, who worked with global law firm Morgan Lewis to help Compassion & Choices file the suit.
Emily Snyder, a spokeswoman for Healey’s office, said Wednesday morning the attorney general’s office is reviewing the decision. A phone call to O’Keefe’s office was not immediately returned.
Unlike most states, Massachusetts hasn’t expressed a public policy against assisted suicide by enacting a statute imposing criminal liability on people who assist others in that act. However, physician-assisted suicide does meet the traditional elements of manslaughter, and a lot of uncertainty surrounds whether or not it would be prosecuted as such, according to the decision.
Kligler, whose cancer is terminal, wants to be able to request prescription medication to take if his suffering becomes intolerable so he can die peacefully in his sleep, according to Compassion & Choices.
“My wife Cathy and I are elated with this initial ruling in my favor,” he said. “As a physician who has treated numerous terminally ill adults, I know medical-aid-in-dying provides peace of mind for many dying patients. I do not know if I would use this option, but I want it for myself if my suffering becomes intolerable at the end of my life.”
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, according to advocacy group Death with Dignity. Massachusetts voters narrowly rejected a ballot initiative on the issue in 2012.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments