The Right to Die: State Courts Lead where Legislatures Fear to Tread *

The right to die may be among the most legally complex and culturally sensitive areas of civil rights to emerge in our time. The thorny issues associated with a terminally ill individual's right to self‐determination, and the disposition of individuals who are incompetent to make right to die decisions for themselves, promises to keep all parties involved ‐ health care professionals, medical ethicists, families, lawyers, judges, and state legislators ‐busy for some time to come. To this point, the state courts have taken the lead in the right to die debate, while the state legislatures have tended to drag their collective feet. This article lays the case law groundwork for right to die decision making, then goes on to assay the legislative responses to the issue that have been rendered in the fifty states.