Against all expectations, a critical win in Montana settled yet again that MAID remains legal, despite concerted efforts by opponents to criminalize the practice. State Senator Carl Glimm (R) SD-103, the Captain Ahab of MAID opponents, introduced SB136 in February to deny "consent" as a legal defense for a doctor charged with homicide for assisting a patient in ending their life through MAID.
The bill sought to overturn the Baxter vs Montana 2009 MT 449 decision in which the Supreme Court ruled the Court ruled that a physician who provides aid in dying to a mentally competent, terminally ill adult patient who consented to such assistance was protected from homicide liability through the consent statute.
In particular SB 136, which opponents dubbed the "Physicians Imprisonment Bill", proposed the following changes to current Montana practice:
- The bill stipulated that a patient's consent is no longer a valid defense against homicide charges for a physician who provides MAID.
- "Physician aid in dying" is defined as a physician prescribing a lethal dose of medication for a patient to self-administer to end their life.
- The definition explicitly excludes withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment and other standard medical practices.
It should be noted that Senator Glimm, who is the Captain Ahab of MAID opponents, has introduced similar bills in every legislative session since the Baxter decision. All have failed.
However, this year Sen Glimm was successful in the State Senate where SB136 passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 7-2 vote and in the Committee of the Whole on Feb 7, 29-20, on its thrid reading largely on party lines with none of the chamber's 18 Democrats voting Yes; and 2 Republicans voting No. (The Montana Senate is currently comprised of 32 Republicans and 18 Democrats).
The Bill then passed to the House Judicary Committee where it passed on party lines 11 Yes to 9 Nos. At this point, it seemed inevitable it would pass in the House Committee of the Whole. However, a superb campaign by the local chapter of Compassion & Choices and individual advocates led to a resounding defeat of the bill 42-58, with ten courageous Republicans crossing party lines.
The loss in the House means efforts to deny mentally competent terminally ills Montans a right to a peacrful death cannot be pursued through the remainder of this legislative session. Captain Ahab, of course, will not take No for an answer.
