Quill v. Vacco
| Decision Date | 02 April 1996 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 60,60 |
| Citation | 80 F.3d 716 |
| Parties | Timothy E. QUILL, M.D.; Samuel C. Klagsbrun, M.D.; and Howard A. Grossman, M.D., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Dennis C. VACCO, Attorney General of the State of New York; George E. Pataki, Governor of the State of New York; Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York County, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 95-7028. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Kathryn L. Tucker, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, and Carla A. Kerr, Hughes Hubbard & Reed, New York City (David J. Burman, Thomas L. Boeder, Kari Anne Smith, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, Leigh A. Roveda, Hughes Hubbard & Reed, New York City, of counsel), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Michael Popkin, Assistant Attorney General, New York City (Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General of the State of New York, Victoria Graffeo, Solicitor General, Kathie Ann Whipple, Acting Bureau Chief, Litigation Bureau, Susan L. Watson, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellees.
Marc Frazier Scholl, Assistant District Attorney, New York City (Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York County, Marc Dwyer, Assistant District Attorney, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellee Robert M. Morgenthau.
(Michael L. Costello, New York State Catholic Conference, Albany, NY, Mark E. Chopko, Michael F. Moses, United States Catholic Conference, Washington, DC, of counsel), for United States Catholic Conference and New York State Catholic Conference as amici curiae.
(Michael Tierney, New York City, of counsel), for New York State Right to Life Committee, Inc. as amicus curiae.
(James Bopp, Jr., Richard E. Coleson, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, Terre Haute, IN, of counsel), for The National Right To Life Committee, Inc. as amicus curiae.
(Paul Benjamin Linton, Clarke D. Forsythe, Americans United for Life, Chicago, IL, of counsel), for Members of the New York State Legislature as amici curiae.
(Cameron Clark, Claudia L. Hammerman, New York City, of counsel), for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., National Association of People with AIDS, Unitarian Universalist Association, Americans for Death with Dignity, Death with Dignity Education Center, Gray Panthers Project Fund, Hemlock Society, and Minna Barrett as amici curiae.
Before MINER and CALABRESI, Circuit Judges, and POLLACK, Senior District Judge. *
Plaintiffs-appellants Timothy E. Quill, Samuel C. Klagsbrun and Howard A. Grossman appeal from a summary judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Griesa, Ch. J.) dismissing their 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against defendants-appellees. The action was brought by plaintiffs-appellants, all of whom are physicians, to declare unconstitutional in part two New York statutes penalizing assistance in suicide. The physicians contend that each statute is invalid to the extent that it prohibits them from acceding to the requests of terminally-ill, mentally competent patients for help in hastening death. In granting summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, the district court considered and rejected challenges to the statutes predicated upon the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Quill v. Koppell, 870 F.Supp. 78 (S.D.N.Y.1994). We reverse in part, holding that physicians who are willing to do so may prescribe drugs to be self-administered by mentally competent patients who seek to end their lives during the final stages of a terminal illness.
The action giving rise to this appeal was commenced by a complaint filed on July 20, 1994. The plaintiffs named in that complaint were the three physicians who are the appellants here and three individuals then in the final stages of terminal illness: Jane Doe (who chose to conceal her actual identity), George A. Kingsley and William A. Barth. The sole defendant named in that complaint was G. Oliver Koppell, then the Attorney The physician plaintiffs alleged that they encountered, in the course of their medical practices, "mentally competent, terminally ill patients who request assistance in the voluntary self-termination of life." Many of these patients apparently "experience chronic, intractable pain and/or intolerable suffering" and seek to hasten their deaths for those reasons. Mr. Barth was one of the patients who sought the assistance of Dr. Grossman. Each of the physician plaintiffs has alleged that "[u]nder certain circumstances it would be consistent with the standards of [his] medical practice" to assist in hastening death by prescribing drugs for patients to self-administer for that purpose. The physicians alleged that they were unable to exercise their best professional judgment to prescribe the requested drugs, and the other plaintiffs alleged that they were unable to receive the requested drugs, because of the prohibitions contained in sections 125.15(3) and 120.30 of the New York Penal Law, all plaintiffs being residents of New York.
General of the State of New York. He has been succeeded as Attorney General by Dennis C. Vacco, who has been substituted for him as an appellee on this appeal. According to the complaint, Jane Doe was a 76-year-old retired physical education instructor who was dying of thyroid cancer; Mr. Kingsley was a 48-year-old publishing executive suffering from AIDS; and Mr. Barth was a 28-year-old former fashion editor under treatment for AIDS. Each of these plaintiffs alleged that she or he had been advised and understood that she or he was in the terminal stage of a terminal illness and that there was no chance of recovery. Each sought to hasten death "in a certain and humane manner" and for that purpose sought "necessary medical assistance in the form of medications prescribed by [her or his] physician to be self-administered."
Section 125.15 of the New York Penal Law provides in pertinent part:
A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when:
....
3. He intentionally ... aids another person to commit suicide.
A violation of this provision is classified as a class C felony. Id.
Section 120.30 of the New York Penal Law provides:
A person is guilty of promoting a suicide attempt when he intentionally ... aids another person to attempt suicide.
A violation of this provision is classified as a class E felony. Id.
Count I of the complaint included an allegation that "[t]he Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the liberty of mentally competent, terminally ill adults with no chance of recovery to make decisions about the end of their lives." It also included an allegation that
[t]he Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the liberty of physicians to practice medicine consistent with their best professional judgment, including using their skills and powers to facilitate the exercise of the decision of competent, terminally ill adults to hasten inevitable death by prescribing suitable medications for the patient to self-administer for that purpose.
Count II of the complaint included an allegation that
[t]he relevant portions of ... the New York Penal Law deny the patient-plaintiffs and the patients of the physician-plaintiffs the equal protection of the law by denying them the right to choose to hasten inevitable death, while terminally ill persons whose treatment includes life support are able to exercise this choice with necessary medical assistance by directing termination of such treatment.
In their prayer for relief the plaintiffs requested judgment declaring the New York statutes complained of constitutionally invalid and therefore in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 "as applied to physicians who assist mentally competent, terminally ill adults who choose to hasten inevitable death." Plaintiffs also sought an order permanently enjoining defendants from enforcing the statutes and an award of attorney's fees.
By order to show cause filed on September 16, 1994, the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction to enjoin then-Attorney General Koppell "and all persons acting in In her declaration, Jane Doe stated:
concert and participation with him from enforcing New York Penal Law sections 125.15(3) and 120.30 against physicians who prescribe medications which mentally competent, terminally ill patients may use to hasten their impending deaths." A declaration by each of the plaintiffs was submitted in support of the application, although Jane Doe had died prior to the filing of the order to show cause. Plaintiffs Kingsley and Barth were then in the advanced stages of AIDS and therefore sought an immediate determination by the district court
I have a large cancerous tumor which is wrapped around the right carotid artery in my neck and is collapsing my esophagus and invading my voice box. The tumor has significantly reduced my ability to swallow and prevents me from eating anything but very thin liquids in extremely small amounts. The cancer has metastasized to my plural [sic] cavity and it is painful to yawn or cough.... In early July 1994 I had the [feeding] tube implanted and have suffered serious problems as a result.... I take a variety of medications to manage the pain.... It is not possible for me to reduce my pain to an acceptable level of comfort and to retain an alert state.... At this time, it is clear to me, based on the advice of my doctors, that I am in the terminal phase of this disease.... At the point at which I can no longer endure the pain and suffering associated with my cancer, I want to have drugs available for the purpose of hastening my death in a humane and certain manner. I want to be able to discuss freely with my treating physician my intention of hastening my death through the consumption of drugs prescribed for that purpose.
Mr. Kingsley subscribed to a declaration that included the following:
At this time I have almost no immune system function.... My first major illness associated with AIDS...
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