Medical professionals in Vermont won't be forced to participate in physician-assisted suicide.

Four years ago, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed Act 39, which legalized doctor-assisted suicide. Furthermore, the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and Office of Professional Regulations interpreted the law to mean healthcare professionals would be required to counsel patients on assisted suicide as an option and refer them to physicians who would write prescriptions for the lethal drugs.

The Christian Medical Association and the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare filed suit, and Alliance Defending Freedom took on the case. After the lower court ruled in favor of the doctors, an assisted-suicide advocacy group, Compassion & Choices, appealed to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

ADF attorney Steven H. Aden tells OneNewsNow that the suicide group has since surrendered and withdrawn from the appeal. A consent agreement is now in place between the state of Vermont and the plaintiff doctor groups that doesn't force conscientious professionals to ensure that "terminal" patients are informed about the availability of doctor-prescribed death.

Aden says the medical personnel just want to follow their convictions without fear of government punishment.

"Conscientious Vermont healthcare professionals are in agreement with the state," explains Aden, "that the law doesn't force them to participate in this heinous process, and they are pleased that the nation's foremost advocate of assisted suicide – Compassion & Choices – has abandoned its effort to force them to do so."