On this blog, Professor Thaddeus Pope tracks judicial, legislative, policy, and academic developments concerning medical futility and the limits on individual autonomy at the end of life.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Montana Supreme Court on Assisted Suicide -- When Is the Decision?

After I blogged about the oral argument in Baxter v. Montana, I was asked "what about the decision?" It may be a few months, probably in early 2010.
My back-of-the-envelope math indicates that it will probably be around three months before a written opinion is released. That is based on averaging the time between case submission and opinion release in the ten most recent Montana Supreme Court decisions (ranging from 1 to 5 months). On the other hand, some recent (summer 2009) published opinions (e.g. Kenfield, 2009 MT 242) were not released for more than seven months after oral argument and submission.

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