NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A well-known attorney facing his own terminal illness has filed a lawsuit challenging a Tennessee law that prohibits assisted suicide.
The Tennessean reports (http://tnne.ws/1HfTbNn ) attorney, businessman and political candidate John Jay Hooker filed the complaint Tuesday in Davidson County Chancery Court against a law which makes it a felony for a doctor or another person to assist in someone's death.
Hooker says the law violates the state constitution, which says "power is inherent in the people."
The 84-year-old Nashville attorney was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but says his fight for euthanasia is not just for himself.
Hooker won the 1970 and 1988 Democratic nominations for governor of Tennessee and most recently ran for the position as an independent in the 2014 election.