Justice Breyer issued a joint concurrence with this case and Washington v. Glucksberg. He stated that he agreed that the distinction the law made between the practices in question was justified and rational. However, he thought that the majority erred both by stating that the respondents asserted a "right to commit suicide with another's assistance" and by stating that the right to choose one's manner of death was not fundamental. Justice Breyer felt it would be more appropriate to consider a "right to die with dignity." Regardless of the semantics, Breyer's primary disagreement with the Court was his belief that it need not, and should not, have deemed whether such a right would be fundamental. He believed that there could be cases in the future with similar yet substantially different circumstances in which the Court may be forced to reconsider the terms used in this decision.
