X-Message-Number: 8291 Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 13:03:57 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Right to die updates Three decisions concerning the right to die will be made this week or soon thereafter: The Oregon State Senate will meet at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 9, to decide whether or not to send the Oregon Death With Dignity Act (Ballot Measure 16) back to the voters in November for a second opinion. Last month the Oregon House of Representatives voted 32-26 to send the same Ballot Measure back to the voters. The Senate vote on Monday may be much closer, and victory for either side could be a matter of last minute decisions by a few senators. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to give its decision regarding the 9th and 2nd Circuit Court decisions which had both ruled -- on differing grounds -- that states cannot have laws which prohibit physician-assisted suicide for a competent, terminally ill adult. The buzz from insiders in Washington DC is that the decision will come down this Monday, but this is merely a rumor. Decisions from the Court are normally issued on Mondays, and there are only three Mondays left in the Supreme Court current term so the decision is virtually certain very soon. The Florida Supreme Court is expected to rule this coming Thursday, June 12, on the Hall case, where a lower court at first granted a man dying of AIDS the right to have his doctor help him to die, and then an appeals court took that right away again. The Florida court may decide to take more time about its deliberations, however. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8291