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California Appeals Court Blocks Attempt to Overturn Oregon Euthanasia Law

SAN FRANCISCO, May 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Doctors in Oregon can legally kill sick and vulnerable patients and, according to a decision of the federal appeals court, that will not be changed soon. 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided against US Attorney General John Ashcroft's attempt to overturn the law. The so-called "Ashcroft Directive" was based on the federal restrictions on controlled substances which cannot be prescribed with the intention to kill.

The 9th Circuit Court ruled that Ashcroft had exceeded the bounds of his authority. "The attorney general's unilateral attempt to repudiate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide," Judge Richard Tallman wrote in his opinion.

Pro-life activists working to stop euthanasia say that while this "debate" is going on, people are being killed. The decision is disappointing but comes as no surprise to Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Ontario-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. He says, anti-euthanasia workers "recognize that the 9th circuit court tends to take a more liberal approach to their decisions."

A spokesman for Mr. Ashcroft said, "no determination has been made as to what the next step will be." Schadenberg commented that the next step will be the Supreme Court and that there was reasonable expectation that the higher court will overturn this decision.

The Oregon law says that doctors may prescribe, but not administer, a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients who ask for it who are deemed mentally competent. Proponents of the law say that assisted suicide has appropriate safeguards to prevent abuse. However, a study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that of the fifteen people who committed suicide, none did so because of intractable pain or suffering, and that those who committed suicide often went shopping for a doctor willing to do the deed. Insurance companies such as Blue Cross, favour assisted suicide because it is cheaper, factoring in the costs and benefits of lethal prescriptions versus long term care for the terminally ill.

Read Washington Times coverage:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040527-122524-6621r.htm

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