X-Message-Number: 10598 Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 06:41:12 -0700 From: Arizonans for Death with Dignity <> Subject: Federal bill overriding Oregon law dead for this year from ASSOCIATED PRESS (Oct 14/98; 7:58 pm eastern) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BILL TO OVERRIDE OREGON'S ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW IS DEAD FOR THIS YEAR By JOHN HUGHES WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bill that would have overridden Oregon's landmark assisted suicide law is officially dead for the year. That acknowledgment Wednesday by the bill's author, Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., seals the victory for assisted-suicide advocates who have battled the legislation since it was introduced in June. It also assures that -- barring any successful legal challenges -- the law will stay in force for at least another year. "Democracy in Oregon has won at least a temporary victory," Sen. Ron Wyden said in a speech on the Senate floor. But Nickles took to the floor immediately after Wyden and vowed to fight on, promising to bring his bill back before the next Congress convening in January. "It's pathetic when you think of the federal government trying to bring in drugs that will kill unborn children and then also at the same time ... use these very strong drugs to kill senior citizens," he said. The bill would bar doctors from prescribing narcotics and other federally controlled drugs to help patients commit suicide. While the bill didn't cancel Oregon's law outright, it would have made the statute difficult to implement, because physicians prefer to use federally-controlled narcotics in assisted suicides. Voters in 1994 and again in 1997 made Oregon the only state in the nation with a law that allows doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients. Since it took effect last fall, at least eight people have used it to end their lives. Wyden said Nickles worked in recent days to insert the bill into a must-pass $500 billion budget package that would keep most of the government operating until next year. Nickles was in a good position to be successful, because as assistant majority leader he is close to the budget talks. But Wyden threatened to filibuster the bill -- and theoretically shut down the government -- if the assisted suicide language was included. Other legislators and groups, including the American Medical Association and American Pharmaceutical Association, lobbied against the bill in recent days. "If the Congress of the United States, meeting 3,000 miles away, had tossed those decisions aside in a last-minute, back-room deal, it would be a great insult to people of Oregon," Wyden said. But Nickles pointed out that the government already regulates drugs. He said it is appropriate for federal authorities to say the drugs can't be used in suicides. "The state of Oregon can do what it wants, but that doesn't overturn federal law," he said. Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland, said he was disappointed the bill is dead for the year. "We feel the bill should be considered," he said. But there were earlier signs the bill was in trouble. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved it 11-6 last month, but some of those who voted for the bill voiced concerns that it would make doctors hesitant to alleviate pain. Those senators said they were voting for it only with the understanding that it wouldn't pass this year. In the House, a similar measure by Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., cleared his committee. But the bill was withdrawn from a scheduled House floor vote, apparently because of a lack of time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message sent by Arizonans for Death with Dignity David Brandt-Erichsen, AzDD Website Manager <> or <> http://www.azstarnet.com/~davidbe/hemlock or http://www.hemlock.org/hemlock/arizona Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10598