X-Message-Number: 10465 Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 10:11:39 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Senate panel passes anti-PAS bill Senate committee passes bill to derail Oregon assisted suicide law By JOHN HUGHES The Associated Press 09/24/98 12:08 PM Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed a bill that would derail Oregon's assisted suicide law. But the committee's chairman said the bill won't gain final passage this year. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told committee members he wanted them to approve the bill to further debate on the issue. Hatch said he was motivated to pass the bill because of the Oregon law that allows assisted suicide and Dr. Kevorkian, and because of a law in the Netherlands that allows wide use of assisted suicide. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has pledged to use a filibuster and other stalling tactics if the bill reaches the Senate floor. The House version of the bill by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., is pending on the House floor. It's unclear when the full House will vote. Several Democrats and Republicans on the committee said they had concerns about the Senate bill and were voting for it only with the understanding it would not be taken up on the Senate floor this year. The committee then passed the bill on an 11-6 vote with most Democrats opposing it. The concerns, voiced the most loudly by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, were mainly that the legislation would discourage doctors from prescribing an adequate level of pain-killing medication. Several medical groups have also used that argument against the bill, which would lead to physicians losing their license to prescribe federally controlled substances if they use those substances to assist in a suicide. Asked why he felt the bill won't pass this year, Hatch said, `Anybody can stop any bill right now on the floor, and the president can veto any bill. I suspect that unless we have more of a bipartisan consensus it will be stalled." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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=10465