X-Message-Number: 8680
Date: Wed Oct 15 06:51:10 1997  PST
Subject: Fwd: U.S. High Court will not review Oregon suicide law
From:  (Edgar W Swank)

10:52 AM ET 10/14/97

U.S. High Court will not review Oregon suicide law


 By James Vicini
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court Tuesday let stand a
ruling that dismissed for technical reasons a challenge to a
controversial Oregon law allowing physician-assisted suicide.
 Oregon in 1994 became the first state to adopt a law making
doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill legal, but it has
never gone into effect due to the legal challenge brought on
behalf of patients, physicians and health-care providers.
 A federal judge in Oregon initially struck down the law as
unconstitutional.
 But a U.S. appeals court in February ruled the plaintiffs,
represented by attorneys from the National Right to Life
Committee, were in no danger of imminent injury from the law and
thus lacked legal standing to bring the case.
 The decision did not address the merits of the challenge
that the law unconstitutionally discriminates against the
terminally ill, but covered only the technical issue of legal
standing.
 The Oregon legislature in June voted to send the law back to
the voters on Nov. 4 for possible repeal. The physician-assisted
suicide law had been narrowly approved by just 51 percent of the
voters.
 The Oregon law allows terminally ill people to request and
then receive a lethal dose of prescription drugs if a doctor
determines they have less than six months to live.
 The request must be made in writing and signed by two
witnesses, and a second request must be made orally by the
patient right before the prescription is given.
 The Supreme Court in June issued major rulings upholding
laws in New York and Washington state that banned
doctor-assisted suicide.
 James Bopp, an attorney for the plaintiffs, urged the high
court in the appeal to hear the case, saying the issues ``are of
vital national importance as the debate over assisted suicide
continues.''
 He added: ``State-sanctioned death of innocent persons
should not begin without the most careful review by this
court.'' The Oregon law has remained on hold until the Supreme
Court acts on the appeal.
 ``The question of who has standing to challenge a regime of
assisted suicide ... is one of immense public importance,'' Bopp
said, adding that the health care providers and Janice Elsner,
who is dying from progressive muscular dystrophy and is a
plaintiff in the case, deserve their day in court.
 Bopp also urged the high court to defer consideration of the
appeal until after the Oregon voters decide in November whether
to keep the law or to repeal it.
 Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers urged that the appeal be
denied, saying the case does not warrant review, that it only
concerned the issue of standing and that it involved a
fact-specific application of settled legal principles.
 ``Review would unnecessarily delay final judgment in the
case,'' he said.
 The high court sided with the state, turning down the appeal
without comment or dissent.

Edgar W. Swank   <>
President - American Cryonics Society
http://www.jps.net/cryonics/

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8680