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“Aid in Dying” in the Courts
Author(s) -
Latham Stephen R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
hastings center report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-146X
pISSN - 0093-0334
DOI - 10.1002/hast.443
Subject(s) - democracy , law , legislature , action (physics) , political science , sociology , politics , physics , quantum mechanics
Three states—Oregon, Washington, and Vermont—have used straightforwardly democratic means to legalize the practice formerly known as “physician‐assisted suicide” but now termed “aid‐in‐dying.” In two states—Montana and New Mexico—aid‐in‐dying has been declared legal neither by directly democratic action by citizens nor by representatively democratic action by the legislature but by court rulings in cases brought by aid‐in‐dying activists. The court case in New Mexico (Morris v. New Mexico, 2014) is undoubtedly of greater significance to the rest of the states. The Morris opinion is as interesting for what it declined to hold as for what it held .