X-Message-Number: 8386 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 09:50:47 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Florida update (Thursday July 17/97;12:19 p.m. EDT) FLA. COURT BLOCKS ASSISTED SUICIDE By Bill Bergstrom Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A man dying of AIDS may not legally receive a lethal dose of drugs from his doctor, the state Supreme Court ruled today. The justices overturned a lower court ruling that a privacy provision in Florida's constitution gave Charles Hall, 35, the right to physician-assisted suicide. ``It is clear that the public policy of this state as expressed by the Legislature is opposed to assisted suicide,'' the justices ruled. They reversed a lower court ruling in favor of Hall, who lives near the Gulf Coast north of the Tampa Bay area, and Dr. Cecil McIver, who sought to avoid prosecution if he helped Hall take his own life. They had argued that a law against assisted suicide violated the state Constitution's privacy clause. Hall, who has been bedridden at his Beverly Hills home, could not immediately be reached. A message on Hall's answering machine said ``If you're calling about the assisted suicide issue, we have no comment at this time due to Charles' deteriorating health.'' It was not clear whether that was in reference to today's decision, or just a standing message. Hall said after oral arguments before the high court in May he was angry the state had appealed the ruling giving him the right to a physician-assisted suicide. ``Why not just let me die in peace? I just don't understand where the state feels they have a right to do what they're doing to me,'' he said after listening to attorneys arguments from a wheelchair. His attorneys did not immediately return calls today. Florida doesn't have a specific law allowing assisted suicide. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Americans do not have a federal right to have their doctors help them kill themselves. Circuit Judge Joseph Davis Jr. had ruled in West Palm Beach that the privacy provision in the state Constitution gave competent adults who were terminally ill that right. The state high court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had declared in its ruling that there was a ``logical and recognized distinction between the right to refuse medical treatment and assisted suicide.'' Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8386