X-Message-Number: 8734
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 10:05:28 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: More on Oregon

Abridged from the PORTLAND OREGONIAN
(Thursday Nov 6/97)

LEGISLATORS DISCUSS SPECIAL SESSION

Some think the suicide law
still needs a little refining

By Gail Kinsey Hill of The Oregonian staff

No sooner did Oregon voters powerfully
confirm they want to keep physician-assisted
suicide than legislators stepped up
discussions about a special session to amend
the law.

The goal would be to address such issues as
residency requirements and legal immunity for
pharmacists. But two influential Republican
legislators said Wednesday that allowing
lethal injections also should be discussed.

Leading lawmakers said they plan to meet
among themselves and with Gov. John Kitzhaber
in the next couple of weeks to discuss
perceived weaknesses in the law. If agreement
appears possible, they might call a special
legislative session early in 1998.

"I think it's doable," said Sen. Neil Bryant,
R-Bend, who led discussions on the law during
the 1997 Legislature. "I think there are some
problems we need to deal with."

Among the possibilities, Bryant said, is
allowing lethal injections, a flash-point
issue sure to reignite the emotion and
controversy that caused lawmakers to put
Measure 51 on Tuesday's ballot to repeal the
law.

Oregon's law bans lethal injections but
allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs,
most likely barbiturates, for terminally ill
patients.

[Note from DBE:  The law does not ban lethal injections if they are
self-administered -- only if they are administered by someone else.]

Senate President Brady Adams, R-Grants Pass,
said he would decide within a few weeks
whether a special session is likely. The next
step, he said, would be to form a committee
to draft specific legislation, take testimony
and build a consensus.

House leaders were less inclined to support a
special session. House Speaker Lynn
Lundquist, R-Powell Butte, said the issue is
too complex and controversial.

A spokesman for Kitzhaber said the governor
first would have to see a plan from
legislative leaders and receive assurance the
votes existed to approve it.

Some groups could create pressure for the
Legislature to act.

The Oregon Medical Association, which
supported repeal, has not decided what to do.
But doctors have "some issues they'd like to
see addressed," said James Kronenberg,
associate director.

Kronenberg said the medical field is
concerned about ensuring proper diagnosis of
terminal illness and depression as well as
the efficacy of oral medication.

Although lethal injections are controversial,
he said, "It seems logical to me that it
would be something this or any other medical
group would want to have looked at."

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