On April 1, Judge Robert Lougy, after some procedural maneuvering, dismissed a state constitutional challenge to the recent Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act. Peyton v. Grewal, MER-C-63-19.

The act was attacked as a violation of, among other things, article I, para. I of our state Constitution. This provision is the font of our constitutional due process, equal protection and privacy doctrines. But the court held, in a detailed opinion, that the physician-plaintiff and others did not have standing, even under our Supreme Court’s relatively-relaxed doctrine, to bring the claim and, nevertheless, that the complaint did not state a claim on the merits. We expect that this type of case will go up the appellate ladder.