In 2016, Dr. Roger Kligler filed a lawsuit to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill who have been given six months or less to live. Andrew Beckwith of the Massachusetts Family Institute says at the time, Dr. Kligler was in the fourth stage of prostate cancer.
"Sort of ironically, but happily for the doctor, during the time that his case was working its way through the courts, his cancer went into remission," Beckwith tells AFN. "He's still alive and doing well, doing better than when he started."
The Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in the state, ruled yesterday that the Massachusetts Constitution does not include a right to doctor-assisted suicide. The justices acknowledged that it is up to the legislature to make laws, not the courts.
"There've been bills that would have legalized assisted suicide at the state House for at least 15 years or more, and we know we'll have our hands full in this upcoming legislative session," Beckwith notes. "Now that they know they can't get it in the courts, it's going to be that much more pressure to get it in the legislature."
So those who want to protect life are ready to work that much harder to convince lawmakers that doctor-assisted suicide is bad medicine for residents of the state.
