An obscure 1909 law intended to ease suffering of Hansen’s disease patients does not make physician-assisted suicide legal in Hawaii, according to an opinion by the state attorney general’s office.

The opinion, dated Dec. 8, was in response to an inquiry from state Sen. Josh Green, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, who sought clarification of the law amid reports that supporters of physician-assisted suicide were seeking a patient willing to test the statute.

"We do not believe that (Hawaii Revised Statutes) 453-1 provides authority for a physician to assist with dying," the opinion states. "A physician who provided such assistance could be charged under Hawaii’s manslaughter statute."

The letter was provided Monday to the Star-Advertiser by state Sen. Mike Gabbard, an opponent of physician-assisted suicide.

Supporters of so-called "death with dignity" legislation say the opinion is too narrow.

When considered along with the Pain Patient’s Bill of Rights, the advance health care directive law and the state Constitution’s privacy clause, there exists "a constellation of laws, all of which reflect that it is the policy of the state of Hawaii to vest its citizens with broad autonomy over end-of-life decision-making," said Sylvia Law, a professor at the New York University School of Law who works with the group Compassion & Choices.

"Taken together, Hawaii’s provisions support a finding that it is the policy of the state to ensure citizens are able to effectively treat their pain and to refuse or withdraw life-sustaining treatment, and to vest its citizens with broad autonomy over end-of-life decision-making," Law said in a written statement.

Bolstered by such opinions, the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society said last month it had found a physician, Nathan "Nate" Nathanson, who was willing to provide a lethal dose of barbiturates to help a terminally ill patient in Hawaii die.

Advocates aimed to test the section of Hawaii Revised Statutes 453-1 that addresses the "practice of medicine" and states, in part:

"(W)hen a duly licensed physician or osteopathic physician pronounces a person affected with any disease hopeless and beyond recovery and gives a written certificate to that effect to the person affected or the person’s attendant, nothing herein shall forbid any person from giving or furnishing any remedial agent or measure when so requested by or on behalf of the affected person."

The attorney general’s opinion contends there is no clear legal definition for "remedial agent or measure," adding there is nothing in the legislative history that "supports a conclusion that the term includes lethal dosages of medication."

The opinion was signed by Deputy Attorney General Heidi M. Rian and approved by Attorney General David Louie.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington and Montana. A proposal before the Hawaii Legislature to make it legal here stalled in committee last year after a lengthy and emotional public hearing.