Assisted Suicide & Bush Admin.

[Rabscuttle]

There is a blurb in today's Wall Street Journal that says, "The (Bush) administration, meanwhile, asked the court to overturn Oregon's assisted-suicide law". No other information was provided. Not sure if this means calling for a legitimate review due to a recent case questioning the constitutionality of this law or informal pressure for the court to conform to W's religious beliefs. Does anybody know more about this case or what the precedents are?

[Camilo]

Here you go

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to uphold Attorney General John Ashcroft's power to stop Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide, despite a state law allowing such assistance.

 

Oregon is the only state to allow physician-assisted suicide and since 1998 it has enabled more than 170 people to end their lives.

 

In appealing to the high court, administration lawyers argued that Ashcroft correctly construed federal law to prohibit distribution of lethal controlled drugs to assist suicides, regardless of the state law.

 

The move had been expected after a U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled in May that Ashcroft's directive was unlawful and unenforceable, and that he had overstepped his authority.

 

Ashcroft's directive threatened to revoke prescription-writing licenses for physicians and pharmacists who filled orders for life-ending drugs.

 

Under the Oregon law, called the Death with Dignity Act, terminally ill patients must get certification from two doctors stating they are of sound mind and have less than six months to live. A prescription for lethal drugs is then written by the doctor and administered by the patients themselves.

 

Ashcroft issued the directive in 2001 declaring that assisting suicide was not a legitimate medical purpose under the Controlled Substances Act and that prescribing federally controlled drugs for that purpose was against the law.

 

He reversed the policy adopted by his predecessor, Janet Reno, during the Clinton administration.

It goes on, click the link.