Sampson v. Alaska,
No. S-9338 (Alaska Sept. 21, 2001)

A mentally competent accountant in the terminal stages of AIDS and a mentally competent physician in the terminal stages of breast cancer sued the State of Alaska (the "State") for an order declaring their physicians to be exempt from Alaska's manslaughter statute for the purpose of assisting them to commit suicide. They argued the statute violated their equal rights protections and Alaska's constitutional guaranty of privacy and liberty. Affirming the Alaska Superior Court, the Supreme Court of Alaska held that physician assisted suicide is not a fundamentally protected constitutional right within the core meaning of the Alaska Constitution's privacy and liberty clauses. Furthermore, the court held that the manslaughter statute's prohibition of physician assisted suicide furthers the State's legitimate protective interests by promoting the integrity of the medical profession and fostering healthy physician-patient relationships. Rejecting the patients' equal protection argument, the court held that the State's legitimate interest in prohibiting assisted suicide outweighed the patients' important privacy and autonomy interests.