X-Message-Number: 8674
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 10:03:03 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: Oregon update
The following wire story was issued by ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Tuesday, Oct 14/97; 10:11 a.m. EDT)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ORE. ASSISTED-SUICIDE LAW MAY STAND
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court, which ruled in
June that terminally ill Americans have no
constitutional right to doctor-assisted suicide, today
rejected a challenge to an Oregon measure that legalizes
such help.
The justices, without comment, refused to revive a
lawsuit filed by a terminally ill woman and two doctors.
A federal appeals court threw out the case after ruling
that the three lacked the proper legal standing to sue.
Today's action, although not a decision that sets any
national precedent, clears the way for Oregon's
assisted-suicide law to take effect -- at least for a
short time.
Oregon voters in 1994 passed a referendum allowing
doctors to help mentally competent but terminally ill
patients end their lives. The initiative, however, never
has taken effect because of court challenges.
The state Legislature has put the measure on this year's
ballot, and voters will be asked in November whether
they want to repeal the Death With Dignity Act, also
known as Measure 16.
The Supreme Court on June 26 upheld assisted-suicide
bans in New York and Washington state. The ruling did
nothing to bar states from legalizing such help from
physicians, but most states have joined New York and
Washington in outlawing it.
``Throughout the nation, Americans are engaged in an
earnest and profound debate,'' Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist wrote for the court in June. ``Our holding
permits this debate to continue.''
Oregon's Measure 16 was challenged by doctors Gary Lee
and William Petty and by Janice Elsner, who is dying
from progressive muscular dystrophy.
The justices were told that Ms. Elsner suffers from
recurrent clinical depression, which makes her sometimes
want to end her life.
The doctors and Ms. Elsner contend that the Oregon
measure violates equal-protection rights by treating
terminally ill people different than those who are not.
``Those not terminally ill enjoy a wide range of
protections from self harm, assistance in suicide and
substandard medical care,'' their appeal said. But
Measure 16, it said, allows terminally ill and
clinically depressed people to get doctors' help in
ending their lives against their true intents.
A federal trial judge ruled that the Oregon measure
violated equal-protection rights, but the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and threw
out the lawsuit.
The appeals court ruled last March that there is no
proof terminally ill adults ``have depression severe
enough to prevent them from making an informed
decision.''
In the appeal acted on today, lawyers for Ms. Elsner and
the doctors said the appeals court ruling means ``dying
persons troubled with recurring suicidal desires will be
deprived of the assurance that their lives are as valued
and protected as those not terminally ill.''
Lawyers for Oregon and the state's American Civil
Liberties Union urged the justices to reject the appeal.
The case is Lee vs. Harcleroad, 96-1824.
The following wire story was issued by ASSOCIATED PRESS
(10/13/97 6:49 PM Eastern)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUICIDE LAW COULD TAKE EFFECT SOON
By CHARLES E. BEGGS
The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon's assisted suicide law, passed
three years ago but never set in motion, could take effect
-- at least for a few days -- shortly before the Nov. 4
election on whether to repeal it.
But lawyers on both sides say it's unlikely the law would be
in effect long enough for anyone to carry out a
doctor-assisted suicide before new legal challenges
sidetrack the law again.
The upshot: It could be months or longer before any
terminally ill Oregonian could legally get a prescription
for life-ending drugs.
Of course, if Measure 51 passes, the issue becomes moot
because the 1994 law would be repealed and there would be
nothing for the courts to rule on.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to review a
lower court's decision to throw out a challenge of the
Oregon law on technical grounds.
If the Supreme Court refuses to review the case, that would
allow the assisted suicide law to go forward.
But first the orders and paperwork would have to make their
way back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco and to the U.S. District Court in Eugene, which
issued the earlier rulings in the case.
"We expect it would take two weeks for paper handling," said
Peter Cogswell, spokesman for Attorney General Hardy Myers.
That means once the paperwork is completed, the law could
take effect -- possibly as early as Oct. 28, a week before
[Image]the election.
However, the Right to Life lawyer who has been leading the
attack on Oregon's assisted suicide law says he would
quickly file a new lawsuit.
"I think there is a likelihood we could get another court
injunction before people actually kill themselves," said Jim
Bopp of Terre Haute, Ind.
So even though the law might take effect late this month, a
new lawsuit could block its implementation because the law
has a 15-day waiting period for a terminally ill patient to
obtain a lethal prescription.
The case started in U.S. District Court in Eugene, where
Judge Michael Hogan issued an injunction blocking
enforcement of the law and later ruled it unconstitutional.
He said the law lacks adequate safeguards for terminally ill
people who are mentally incompetent.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the lower
court to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds it was premature
because it posed no immediate threat to the rights of the
patient in the case or to doctors who objected to the law.
Foes of the law appealed, and that's the case now before the
Supreme Court. But it's there just on the issue of whether
the plaintiffs had standing to sue, which the 9th Circuit
said they didn't.
Bopp has asked the Supreme Court to defer its ruling on
whether to review the Oregon case until after the Nov. 4
election in which Oregon voters will be asked whether they
want to uphold or repeal the 1994 law.
Bopp said it's suitable to have "the people of Oregon
express their view" before the lawsuit goes further.
A lawyer for supporters of assisted suicide, Eli Stutsman of
Portland, said he expects opponents of the law to file all
the papers they can to prevent implementing the law.
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8674