MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The lawsuit by four doctors, a nurse and three patients says that state law, under which a doctor may be charged with manslaughter for helping a patient die, was introduced to prevent emotionally unstable people from committing suicide but not to stop doctors from helping mentally healthy terminally ill patients die, the newspaper reported.
The lawsuit also says that the prohibition on doctors to help terminally ill patients die breaches the Constitution's equal protection clause because doctors are already allowed to help patients die under certain circumstances by removing patients' life support.
At present, assisted suicide is legal only in several US states, including Montana, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.
