Year: 1995 Source: The Medical Post, v.31, no.12, (March 28, 1995), p.4 SIEC No: 19950219

This article reviews the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee terminally ill patients a right to an assisted suicide. A Seattle group, Compassion in Dying, had argued that terminally ill, mentally competent people have a constitutional right to assisted suicide & that the state’s interest in preventing sucides does not apply to these people. The court ruled that in this case state interest outweighs any constitutional right of liberty.