Posted on 01/09/2009 11:51:48 AM PST by wagglebee
Helena, MT (LifeNews.com) -- Montana officially became the third state to allow assisted suicide as a state judge ruled again on the issue. Helena District Judge Dorothy McCarter handed down her ruling allowing the practice in December and, this week, ruled again by dismissing a request for an injunction during the appeal.
McCarter decided in December that a terminally ill patient Robert Baxter and mentally competent, terminally ill Montana residents like him can self-administer lethal drugs given to them in prescriptions from willing doctors.
Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath has filed an appeal of the decision and asked Judge McCarter for a temporary injunction preventing assisted suicides from occurring while the appeal proceeds.
McCarter declined and her ruling means assisted suicides can move ahead as of Wednesday without patients or doctors fearing prosecution.
Wesley J. Smith, an attorney who is a leading bioethics watchdog, condemned McCarter's refusal to stop assisted suicides while the case moves along.
"When a very controversial ruling comes down from our rulers in black robes, it is customary that pending an appeal to the highest court, the decision be stayed--that is suspended--until the final decision from a higher court is in," he said.
"Judges are becoming too arrogant for our good as a nation," Smith lamented. "Culture-rending changes in law and morality should not be decided undemocratically by promoting a judge's own ideology through wrenching and twisting constitutional terms to mean things that were not intended when they were enacted."
The case has also taken an odd twist as McGrath has since been sworn in as the chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, but has said he will recuse himself once the high court takes the appeal.
Another battle could also come into play in the state legislature as Rep. Dick Barrett, a Missoula Democrat, has filed legislation that put McCarter's ruling into law with a bill to officially legally assisted suicide.
McCarter had initially misused the privacy provision in the state Constitution, intended to oppose wiretapping and other surveillance, to say that patients have a right to an assisted suicide without legal consequences.
Following the decision, the Montana Medical Association indicated it refused to get involved and came under fire for not submitting an amicus brief supporting McCarter's attempt to overturn the ruling.
Montana joins Oregon and Washington as the only three states in the nation to allow assisted suicides.
Judge-ocracy.
They should commit suicide privately and leave the government and medical profession out of it. And any who “helps” them should be legslly liable for murder.
I am embarassed now to say that I grew up in MT and miss it... The state has changed dramatically with the influx of movie stars and wealthy people from CA. So, to be honest, we should probably expect more of this coming out of MT as the locals are losing their grip and the transplants are taking over. AND...we all know that in politics, like it or not, money talks. The money and the transplants are coming from the West Coast.
May God hear the cries of His children in their home state(and mine) and rescue them!!
Next you'll tell me that some depressed people actually turn their life around and are glad to be alive for many years once they get through that tunnel.
You mean to tell me that some people do end up surviving certain illnesses despite being deemed terminal?
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Liberalism is a cult of death. Abortions, euthanasia, drugs, promiscuous sex (AIDS Hepatitis...etc.)....... It's a way of thinking that centers around self, places man center stage and in a world without God, where there is no right nor wrong and ultimately a mob combined with pure hedonism and nihilism rule.
Without God, without any higher value, human life reduces to nothing more than its chemical make up; in such a world euthanasia makes complete sense. A human might have a shelf value of $7.10 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_makeup_of_the_human_body)
Liberalism explains the world like this: Genesis = evolution, Apocalypse = global warming, worship/fellowship = community organizations/tantra/etc., morals = ethics, a collective understanding of what God is and what the rules are to live by = humanism/spirituality....... It's a parallel universe a liberal lives in. It's more or less a world where they have to declare themselves heathens and often savage to be part of. But it feels really good since there are no rules nor boundaries. Ever notice that when you talk to a real hard core liberal or a homosexual the conversation always ends up revolving around their genitalia? Most homosexuals define “who” they are by their sexual orientation. They are essentially a penis on legs.
Euthanasia makes complete sense to me. It's nothing more than the natural progression/evolution of a certain way in looking at life.
better known as Vince Fostercide.
“They should commit suicide privately and leave the government and medical profession out of it. And any who “helps” them should be legslly liable for murder.”
I fully concur.
I just opine that that it is futile and expensive to legislate morality.
All laws are legislating morality.
Fair enough, I should say “legislating self-morality” or “self-control.”
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