Glucksberg v. WA & Vaco v. Quill

Compassion in Dying sponsored this case along with four physicians and three terminally-ill patients. The litigants sought recognition for terminally ill, mentally competent adults to choose aid-in-dying under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.

The case began in Washington State. A declaratory judgment was sought to exempt providing life-ending medication for terminally ill patients from the state’s law against assisting a suicide. The court found that providing those medications was in fact not exempt, leading to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

In 1997, the US Supreme Court declined to recognize the right for aid-in-dying. But the Court invited the individual states to address the issue. These cases are widely recognized as a catalyst for drawing attention to the care of the dying. The Court further recognized that dying patients have a federal constitutional right to obtain medication sufficient to relieve their pain even if the time of death is hastened as a result.

The Court concluded by saying, “Americans are engaged in an earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality and practicality of physician-assisted suicide. Our holding permits this debate to continue, as it should in a democratic society.”

Read the Glucksberg opinion by Chief Justice Rhenquist.

Read the Vaco opinion by Chief Justice Rhenquist.

Read Justice Stevens concurring opinion.

Read Justice O'Connor's concurring opinion.

Read Justice Breyer's concurring opinion.