Montana Senate passes bill to ban assisted suicide

The Montana Senate has taken the first step towards closing a loophole that created a gray area for assisted suicide.

In 2009, the Baxter v. Montana case created a loophole that would have allowed assisted suicide by refusing to declare whether or not the act is expressly legal; instead, it shifted the blame from doctors onto the patients requesting lethal drugs. Essentially, the Montana Supreme Court said that assisted death is neither legal nor illegal.

The Senate has since voted to pass SB 136, which removes the issue of patient consent as a defense against assisted suicide, specifically saying that consent is not a defense against homicide or assisted suicide.

“That this is a peaceful way to go out is a fallacy. The drug cocktails they give them contain paralytics and these, without other drugs, will make them suffocate and die. The reason they give them paralytics is to cover up these people would be flailing in place,” Sen. Daniel Emrich said, adding that legalizing assisted suicide sends a disturbing message to people who are ill, elderly, or disabled. “We’re telling them they’re not worthy to be on this earth. That they should just go away because they’re inconvenient. That they have some disability or ailment or we just don’t want them any more because they’re wasting away.”

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The drugs used in assisted suicide and euthanasia are often the same as those used in lethal injections to carry out the death penalty; far from being a peaceful, easy way to die, it is known to cause immense suffering and can take hours, or even days, to die. One study, in the medical journal Anaesthesia, found that prolonged deaths from assisted suicide are common, with a third of patients taking 30 hours to die, and four percent taking seven days to die. Experiments with suicide drugs caused serious pain, with one cocktail “burning patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.”

Sen. Sue Vinton also pointed out that assisted suicide is still, in fact, suicide — and it is traumatizing for the surviving family members left behind. Already, Montana has the highest suicide rate of any state in the country, and legalizing assisted death is already known to increase overall suicide rates.

“Many of us have experienced the suicide of a family member or loved one, and there is nothing peaceful or joyful about that,” Vinton said. “What there is is guilt, grief, and it never ends. Don’t believe that every person who chooses suicide is surrounded by loving, joyful people.”