Falmouth Doctors Appeal Ruling Against Aid-In-Dying

FALMOUTH, MA — Two Falmouth physicians advocating for allowing physician-assisted suicide said they will appeal a Massachusetts court's dismissal of a lawsuit where they argued the service is protected by the state constitution. Dr. Roger Kliger, a retired internist with terminal prostate cancer, and Dr. Alan Steinbach, who treats terminally ill patients, filed the lawsuit against 2016 against state Attorney General Maura Healey and Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe in 2016.

Kliger and Steinbach in the lawsuit argued physician-assisted suicide is not manslaughter and sought an injunction to prohibit doctors from being prosecuted. The lawsuit also argued prosecuting doctors violates the state constitution and physicians have a right to provide information about aid-in dying procedures to terminally ill patients.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Mary K. Ames dismissed all but one count in the physicians' case. Ames ruled physicians can give terminally ill patients information about legal aid-in dying procedures in other states, but said its up to the legislature to decide if physician assisted suicide is allowed.

"The plaintiffs are correct that the law of involuntary manslaughter does not prohibit such provision of information and advice … where MAID (medical aid-in dying) is legal …" Ames wrote in her ruling. "In concluding that MAID is not authorized under Massachusetts law, the court notes that there appears to be a broad consensus that this issue is best not addressed by the judiciary."

Medical aid-in dying procedure are allowed in the District of Columbia and nine states including California, Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, Vermont and Washington.

Some, like Matt Valliere, the executive director for the Patients Rights Action Fund, applauded the judge's decision. He told the Cape Cod Times physician assisted suicide is too dangerous and puts the elderly and disabled at risk.

"While I sympathize greatly with Dr. Kligler and all patients facing challenging diagnoses, assisted suicide is simply too dangerous and puts the most vulnerable in society — the terminally ill, people with disabilities, the elderly and those financially disadvantaged — at risk for abuse and coercion," Valliere told the Cape Cod Times.

Kligler called the decision "disheartening," in a statement from advocacy group Compassion and Choices.

"As a physician who has treated numerous terminally ill adults, I know many of them would want medical aid in dying as an option to peacefully end their suffering," Kliger said in a statement. "I do not know if I would use this option, but I want it for myself if my suffering becomes intolerable at the end of my life."

Kevin Diaz, the general counsel for Compassion and Choices, said the decision wasn't the win the group hoped for, but believes progress was made because doctors can share information about procedures in other states for terminally ill patients.