Associated Press - June 16, 2009 7:44 PM ET

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A Missoula woman, unable to find a physician willing to prescribe drugs that would hasten her death, has died of ovarian cancer.

Janet Murdock died Sunday at age 67. Her death was announced Tuesday by the Denver-based patients' rights group Compassion & Choices. The group was a plaintiff in a lawsuit that led to a judge's ruling that physician-assisted suicide is a right protected under the Montana Constitution.

The state is appealing District Judge Dorothy McCarter's ruling to the Montana Supreme court.

McCarter refused to issue a stay pending appeal, and Montana doctors can legally prescribe drugs to end the lives of terminally ill patients. But patients seeking assistance to die have complained they cannot find physicians willing to help them.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.