X-Message-Number: 8126
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 15:41:30 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: CRYONICS Oregon law delayed again

The Eugene Register-Guard newspaper today (April 22) reports the
following:

"Court keeps assisted suicide law on hold"
        A federal appeals court on Monday continued to block Oregon's law
on doctor-assisted suicide from taking effect, saying the law will remain
on hold while opponents prepare an appeal to the U S Supreme Court.
        The assisted suicide law has been the object of fierce court
battles since Oregon voters narrowly approved the measure -- in
November, l994.   The law would allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs
to competent, terminally ill adults, but opponents blocked it from taking
effect by obtaining a temporary injunction from federal Judge Michael
Hogan of Eugene.
        Hogan issued a permanent injunction against the law in August,
l995, ruling the ballot measure was unconstiutional because it denied
terminally ill people the protection of state laws intended to prevent
suicide.
        In March, l996, the 9th U S Circuit Court of Appeals served notice
that it disagreed with Hogan's reasoning when it struck down Washington
state's ban on doctor-assisted suicide.   In that case, the court said the
state's concern for preserving life is outweighed by an individual's right
to control the time and manner of his or her own death.
        In an aside to that decision, the court said Hogan had 'clearly
erred' when he issued the permanent injunction against the Oregon law.
        This past February, a three judge panel of the appeals court
ordered Hogan to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the measure. The appeals
court did not decided on the measure's constitutionality, but said the
plaintiffs had no legal standing to challenge the law because they failed
to show any threat of immediate harm.
        The court said enforcement would pose no immediate threat to the
rights of the doctors or the patients who filed the suit.
        The law itself, however, has remained on hold.  On Monday, Judge
Melvin Brunetti, who wrote the appeal court's 3-0 ruling in February,
signed an order granting opponents' request for a further delay until they
seek Supreme Court review.   At that point, a stay would be up to the
high court.
        The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide by early July whether
terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to physician
assistance in suicide in Washington state and New York.
        Those cases have a different twist because those states sought to
ban doctor-assisted suicide rather than allow it.  Legal observers have
said they expect the Supreme Court to rule that states may decide the issue
for themselves.     

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