Assisted suicide bill - it deserved to die

John Kelly

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/reader-view-assisted-suicide-bill-it-deserved-to-die/article_249e9f50-bd12-5cd1-ba9c-33f689ca9534.html

By John Kelly | Posted: Monday, March 20, 2017 7:00 pm

Thanks to the state Senate’s rejection of the assisted suicide bill, Senate Bill 252, residents of New Mexico can breathe easier. As Sen. Craig Brandt said during last week’s debate, “This bill is dangerous. Doctors make mistakes every day.”

Assisted suicide wrong Rx for NM

William Toffler, MD

https://www.abqjournal.com/978031/assisted-suicide-wrong-rx-for-nm.html

I am a professor emeritus of family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore. I have lived and practiced medicine in Oregon for almost 37 years.

There has been a profound shift in attitude in my state since the voters of Oregon narrowly embraced assisted suicide 20 years ago. This shift has been detrimental to our patients, degraded the quality of medical care and compromised the integrity of my profession.

New Mexico Supreme Court States Assisted Suicide Is Not A Civil Right, Euthanasia Inevitable

http://www.clinicalpsychiatrynews.com/views/shrink-rap-news/blog/new-mexico-high-court-states-assisted-suicide-is-not-a-right/9c5d680353ed2a95482853c4a4fa6b40.html

Annette Hanson, MD

Originally published July 7, 2016 in Clinical Psychiatry News, updated July 9, 2016, by Annette Hanson, MD

New Mexico [has become] the latest state to throw out a challenge to a law banning physician assisted suicide. In Morris v. Brandenburg, proponents of the right-to-die movement claimed that medical aid-in-dying was a fundamental right, meaning that any law which restricted the right should be presumed to be invalid unless the state had a compelling reason for the restriction. In a unanimous decision, the New Mexico Supreme Court held that there was no such right under that state's constitution, and that even if the right had existed the state had several compelling reasons to restrict it

Decision Allowing Assisted Suicide Overturned

New Mexico Supreme Court

Today, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld a criminal statute prohibiting "assisting suicide" as constitutional when applied to "physician aid in dying," meaning physician-assisted suicide. The 5-0 decision states in part:

[W]e agree with the legitimate concern that recognizing a right to physician aid in dying will lead to voluntary or involuntary euthanasia because if it is a right, it must be made available to everyone, even when a duly appointed surrogate makes the decision, and even when the patient is unable to self-administer the life-ending medication. . . .

[The] statute is neither unconstitutional or its face nor as it is applied to Petitioners. . . . [W]e reverse the district court's contrary conclusion and remand to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.  (Emphasis added). [pp. 31 & 57]