United States recognition of the right to die

Abstract

On 6 March 1996 the United States Court of Appeals handed down a significant decision in the matter of 'Compassion in Dying v State of Washington' (No 94-35534) (http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/circuit/9th/opinions/9435534.htm). The case involved an application for a declaration that a Washington statute that prohibited any person assisting another to commit suicide was unconstitutional, to the extent that it applied to a physician assisting a terminally ill, mentally competent patient to commit suicide. By an eight-to-three majority, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the claim and struck down the legislation to the extent that it prohibited physician-assisted suicide. Although this case turned on relatively narrow grounds, in particular whether that part of the statute which prohibited a person who "aids" another to commit suicide was constitutional, the court's reasoning was much broader and will have future ramifications for the legalisation of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.