X-Message-Number: 6091
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 17:45:24 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: stay issued on 2nd circuit ruling

Associated Press is carrying the following story today (Apr 18)


     Court Issues 30-Day Stay of Doctor-Assisted Suicide Ruling


     NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked an
     earlier ruling that struck down the state's ban on doctor-assisted
     suicide.

     Responding to a request by state Attorney General Dennis Vacco, the 2nd
     U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 30-day stay Wednesday of its
     April 2 ruling that essentially legalized assisted suicide.

     Vacco plans to use that time to prepare an appeal to the U.S. Supreme
     Court.

     ``This stay prevents New York doctors from participating in so-called
     mercy killings at least until the nation's highest court has an
     opportunity to examine the profound issues raised by this suit,'' the
     attorney general said in a statement.

     The 2nd Circuit had struck down two New York state laws banning
     physician-assisted suicide, finding the laws violated the Constitution
     by failing to treat individuals equally.

     The court said that patients on life-support systems can be
     disconnected at their request, but others who want to speed death by
     taking prescribed drugs are stopped.

     The ruling was similar to one last month in San Francisco in which a
     federal appeals court struck down Washington state's ban, ruling that
     mentally competent, terminally ill adults have a constitutional right
     to die.

     The New York ruling came in a case brought by three doctors who had
     sought to speed the deaths of three terminally ill patients. The
     patients have since died.

     Carla A. Kerr, a lawyer for the three doctors, said in a statement last
     week that she expects the Supreme Court to refuse to hear the case
     because the appeals court relied on ``a straightforward application''
     of constitutional principles.

 <David Brandt-Erichsen>


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