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)
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    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.

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