New Mexico high court: Doctors can't help patients end lives

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday that terminally ill patients cannot end their lives with help from doctors, ending what right-to-die advocates thought would be a successful legal fight.

In a 5-0 opinion, the high court overturned a previous district court decision that doctors could not be prosecuted under the state's assisted suicide law, which classifies helping with suicide as a fourth-degree felony.

"If we were to recognize an absolute, fundamental right to physician aid in dying, constitutional questions would abound regarding legislation that defined terminal illness or provided for protective procedures to assure that a patient was making an informed and independent decision," Justice Edward Chavez wrote for the court.