N.M. Supreme Court: Doctors can't help patients end their lives

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that terminally ill patients cannot end their lives with help from doctors.

In a 5-0 opinion issued Thursday, 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.

The legal challenge began in 2012. It involves a Santa Fe woman with advanced uterine cancer who wanted courts to clarify New Mexico's laws preventing her from ending her life and putting doctors in legal trouble.

The justices were asked to throw out the state's assisted suicide law.

The New Mexico Attorney General's Office argued the final decision on the legality of the practice should be left to state lawmakers, not the courts.