SimpleSimon
05-25-2002, 01:15 AM
The people of Oregon, through their duely elected state legislators, have expressed their wishes on this topic. Who the hell does John Ashcroft think he is, God’s Crusader for the right?
Justice to Appeal Assisted Suicide Law
By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press Writer
published 08:39 PM - MAY 24, 2002 Eastern Time
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Justice Department said Friday it will fight a judge's ruling that banned the department from interfering with an Oregon law that allows doctors to help terminally ill people kill themselves.
Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged the law last November, but was rebuffed by a judge who ruled in April that the Justice Department lacks the authority to overturn the law, the only one of its kind in the nation.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jones in Portland said Ashcroft was wrongly trying to "stifle" nationwide debate on assisted suicide, and he issued an injunction barring the federal agency from trying to prevent Oregon residents from using the law.
Justice Department lawyers filed paperwork Friday of their plans to appeal to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The department did not explain the grounds for the appeal, but in a separate handout to reporters, the department repeated its contention that "there are important medical, ethical and legal distinctions between intentionally causing a patient's death and providing sufficient dosages of pain medications to eliminate or alleviate pain."
Jones said in his decision in April that Oregon voters twice endorsed the law and "have chosen to resolve the moral, legal and ethical debate on physician-assisted suicide for themselves."
The law, approved by voters in 1994 and 1997, allows the terminally ill to request a lethal dose of drugs if two doctors confirm they have less than six months to live and the patients are mentally competent to make the request. Patients must act alone in taking the fatal dose.
State health officials say at least 91 people, most suffering from cancer, have killed themselves using the law.
The law has already survived one federal court challenge.
The Justice Department argues that dispensing drugs for a suicide does not serve a "legitimate medical purpose" under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Ashcroft had issued a directive warning doctors that they would be stripped of their licenses to prescribe federally controlled substances.
Justice to Appeal Assisted Suicide Law
By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press Writer
published 08:39 PM - MAY 24, 2002 Eastern Time
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Justice Department said Friday it will fight a judge's ruling that banned the department from interfering with an Oregon law that allows doctors to help terminally ill people kill themselves.
Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged the law last November, but was rebuffed by a judge who ruled in April that the Justice Department lacks the authority to overturn the law, the only one of its kind in the nation.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jones in Portland said Ashcroft was wrongly trying to "stifle" nationwide debate on assisted suicide, and he issued an injunction barring the federal agency from trying to prevent Oregon residents from using the law.
Justice Department lawyers filed paperwork Friday of their plans to appeal to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The department did not explain the grounds for the appeal, but in a separate handout to reporters, the department repeated its contention that "there are important medical, ethical and legal distinctions between intentionally causing a patient's death and providing sufficient dosages of pain medications to eliminate or alleviate pain."
Jones said in his decision in April that Oregon voters twice endorsed the law and "have chosen to resolve the moral, legal and ethical debate on physician-assisted suicide for themselves."
The law, approved by voters in 1994 and 1997, allows the terminally ill to request a lethal dose of drugs if two doctors confirm they have less than six months to live and the patients are mentally competent to make the request. Patients must act alone in taking the fatal dose.
State health officials say at least 91 people, most suffering from cancer, have killed themselves using the law.
The law has already survived one federal court challenge.
The Justice Department argues that dispensing drugs for a suicide does not serve a "legitimate medical purpose" under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Ashcroft had issued a directive warning doctors that they would be stripped of their licenses to prescribe federally controlled substances.