Federal Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of Idaho Law Voiding Pregnant Women ’s Living Wills

A federal court today rejected a motion by State of Idaho defendants to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that invalidates a person’s advance directive if they have been diagnosed as pregnant.  The Court determined that the Plaintiffs may proceed with their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the statute.  The lawsuit, Almerico et al. v. State of Idaho et al, was filed in May 2018 by Compassion & Choices and Legal Voice on behalf of four Idaho women.  The outcome of the suit could have repercussions for similar laws in nine states: Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Washington repealed a similar law in the 1980s. Idaho’s Medical Consent and Natural Death Act recognizes: “...the fundamental right of competent persons to control the decisions relating to the rendering of their medical care, including the decision to have life-sustaining procedures withheld or withdrawn.” But the law states that if a person has “been diagnosed as pregnant, this Directive shall have no force during the course of [their] pregnancy.”This law disregards a person’s wishes for the care they want or do not want to receive. For this reason, Compassion & Choices and Legal Voice argue that Idaho’s law violates people’s constitutional rights to legal equality and to direct their own medical care.  All four plaintiffs are wome...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs