San Diego judge rules state law prohibiting assisted suicides is constitutional

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego judge tentatively ruled today, July 24, that a state law prohibiting assisted suicides is constitutional, marking the end of a lawsuit filed by three terminally ill cancer patients who want to utilize the option of medical aid to end their suffering.

Superior Court Judge Gregory Pollack said the case was not about the "right to die'' but whether a law making assisted suicides in California illegal was constitutional.

Pollack said appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have made a distinction between "letting a person die and making a person die.''

"You can't do tha...