New Mexico's highest court is poised to consider the legality of assisted suicide.
The state Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Oct. 26 in a so-called "aid-in-dying" case recently decided by the state Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals on Aug. 11 struck down a Bernalillo County District Court judge's ruling that essentially allowed assisted suicide in the state.
In a split decision, the Court of Appeals concluded "that aid in dying is not a fundamental liberty interest under the New Mexico Constitution."
The District Court judge had previously ruled that a 1963 state law making assisted suicide a fourth-degree felony in the state was invalid as applied to physicians who administer a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient.
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