A district judge in Helena is considering whether to decriminalize physician-assisted suicide.

Judge Dorothy McCarter heard arguments Friday in a lawsuit brought by a terminally ill Billings man, four Missoula doctors and a national non profit group.

The plaintiffs argue that mentally competent, terminally ill Montanans facing a dying process they find intolerable should be allowed to take prescribed medication to help them die peacefully.

"A mentally competent, terminally ill Montanan should have the right to choose a peaceful death, when confronted by death," said Kathryn Tucker, Compassion and Choices director of legal affairs.

But others disagree.

"The laws governing the medical profession say the medical profession is to heal, not to kill," said Montana Assistant Attorney General Anthony Johnston.

McCarter did not issue a ruling Friday.

Attorneys for the state maintain that assisted suicide qualifies as homicide under state law, and the issue should be decided in the state legislature not the courtroom.

Another terminally ill patient, Steven Stoelb, of Livingston dropped his case due to disputed facts of his disease.

If the judge rules in favor of the plaintiff's, Stoelb would still be a beneficiary of the ruling.