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New Mexico could be fifth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide

By Andrew V. Pestano

ALBUQUERQUE, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Judges of the New Mexico Court of Appeals will determine whether doctors can help terminally ill patients end their lives.

New Mexico would join Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington as states that allow physician-assisted suicide because of terminal illness.

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Aja Riggs' case was presented to the court on Monday. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2011, which is in remission. If the cancer comes back, she wants to be able to end her life.

"To require somebody in that case to suffer and withhold that option we know is safe and is compassionate and legal in other places, is just not right," Riggs said.

The main argument against the "right to die" by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office is that the right for a person to die does not extend to third parties, such as doctors.

The decision should also be made through the New Mexico legislature, not the court, according to special prosecutor Scott Fuqua.

"The problem is... there may be circumstances in which the person isn't really at the... end of their lives," Fuqua said. "The person isn't really mentally competent and they're still prescribed the medication, so that's where the state interest lies."

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Laura Ives, Riggs' attorney, argued the right to die is protected in the constitution.

"It is this court's responsibility to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority," Ives said.

The judges' decision could take six to 12 months.

"I'm just amazed, again, at the strength of our case," Riggs said.

A poll by the New England Journal of Medicine said that 67 percent of participants polled in the U.S. thought physician-assisted suicide should not be allowed.

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