Medical Aid in Dying in Montana Symposium

We have at least some data on medical aid in dying (MAID) in eight U.S. states where it is statutorily authorized (CA, CO, DC, HI, NJ, OR, VT, WA), But we have almost no data on what is happening in two "standard of care jurisdictions" (MT, NC). An upcoming symposium at the University of Montana will address this.  

The Montana Supreme Court decided Baxter v Montana in 2009, opening the door to the practice of MAID in Montana, in a manner that left the legislature latitude to regulate or prohibit it. 

Legislators have introduced both sorts of measures but none have been enacted in the decade since. Accordingly, MAID is governed by the Baxter decision, which sets the framework for eligibility and physician practice, but otherwise leaves the practice to standard of care. This is a very different approach to MAID than in states that impose a complex regulatory statute.

This symposium brings together clinicians, attorneys, jurists, policy makers, family member survivors of dying patients, and researchers to review and discuss the decade of MAID practice in Montana, the lessons which can be gleaned, which may inform other states considering standard of care governance of MAID.