"The State of New York had enacted a prohibition against physician-assisted suicide, making it a crime for a physician to administer lethal medication or to otherwise knowingly and intentionally end the life of a patient, even a consenting, mentally competent, and terminally ill patient.A number of physicians (here the respondents) filed suit against New York's Attorney General, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the law on constitutional grounds.