On Thursday, February 14, 2019, the Montana House of Representatives voted yes to a bill ‘providing that consent to physician aid in dying is not a defense’. Thereby this bill has passed the House and will, as next step, be discussed in the Senate. The bill, HB 284, was introduced by Montana State Representative Carl Glimm in order to ‘repair the loophole’ that was created by the 2009 Baxter v. Montana decision. In this decision the Montana Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the state law prohibited a physician from honoring a terminally ill, mentally competent patient’s request by prescribing medication to hasten the patient’s death. The HB 284 bill is not the first bill that tries to overrule the Baxter v. Montana decision. Earlier attempts were made in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
More information?
See the whole bill traject here.
See more information on Montana on the website of Death with Dignity.