Assisted-suicide law may be heading for Supreme Court showdown

Published: 2004-08-20

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- The U.S. Supreme Court is probably the next stop in the legal case over Oregon's assisted-suicide law. In a ruling announced Aug. 16, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied a U.S. Justice Department request for a new hearing. In May, a panel of judges from the court ruled 2-1 that Oregon doctors could continue to use federally regulated drugs in assisted suicide. The refusal to reconsider now gives U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft until the end of September to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2001 Ashcroft issued a directive saying that assisted suicide failed to qualify as a "legitimate medical purpose" and that doctors who used controlled substances for lethal prescriptions were liable to fines, jail and revocation of prescribing licenses. Physician-assisted suicide, opposed by the Catholic Church, is legal only in Oregon. According to state records, since 1998 doctors have reported helping 171 people die using Oregon's voter-approved Death With Dignity Act. The law allows terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to request a lethal dose of drugs after two doctors have confirmed that diagnosis and determined the patient is mentally competent.

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