X-Message-Number: 12169 Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:57:59 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: House panel passes anti-Oregon bill The Oregonian newspaper in Portland reports (21 July) on the latest development in Congress on PAS :- House panel passes end-of-life care bill Wednesday, July 21, 1999 By Dave Hogan of The Oregonian staff WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee on Tuesday approved legislation on end-of-life care without amendment over the objections of Democrats who said it would trample Oregon's right to set its own course on assisted suicide. The Pain Relief Promotion Act, which also has been introduced in the Senate, would prohibit the use of federally controlled substances for assisted suicide. It would effectively block Oregon's assisted-suicide law, which took effect in 1997. The bill would authorize doctors to use drugs to treat patients' pain aggressively, even when that treatment increases the risk of death. But it would prohibit the use of federally controlled drugs to intentionally assist a suicide. "The fundamental issue is . . . whether we're going to support assisted suicide or not," said Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla., who heads the Constitution subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. With seven Republicans and three Democrats present, the subcommittee approved the bill by voice vote, apparently along party lines. Canady said he hopes the full Judiciary committee will vote on the bill next week. During Tuesday's hearing, the Constitution subcommittee rejected the only amendment offered. Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., proposed that doctors be allowed to dispense controlled substances for assisted suicide "in compliance with applicable state, federal or local laws." "I hope my colleagues will recognize that we should be honoring the rights of states, as we always give lip service to, rather than overruling the rights of states, as we're doing in this bill," Watt said. But Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the Judiciary chairman, said the bill is needed so the nation would have a consistent federal policy regarding the use of federally controlled substances for assisted suicide. "If Oregon is allowed to be the odd man out, then you have a semi-national policy," Hyde said. Last year, many medical and patient-care groups opposed legislation that would have blocked Oregon's assisted-suicide law. They said it could cause physicians to back away from aggressively treating patients' pain out of fear they would be investigated by federal regulators if the patient died. This year, however, two leaders of last year's opposition -- the American Medical Association and the National Hospice Organization -- have endorsed the legislation, saying it addressed concerns raised last year. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12169