U.S. JUDGE SAYS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CAN'T NULLIFY ASSISTED-SUICIDE LAW

A federal court in Oregon said Attorney General John Ashcroft overstepped
his authority when he moved to bar doctors in that state from helping
terminally ill patients commit suicide, a move that would have nullified
Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law.

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones said the federal Controlled Substances
Act, which Mr. Ashcroft said barred physician-assisted suicide, wasn't
intended to forbid the practice. He also said Washington was "never
authorized to establish a national medical practice or act as a national
medical board."

The decision marks another turning point in the fight over the so-called
death-with-dignity movement, a battle that flared anew last year with the
coming of the Bush administration and its conservative views on abortion,
embryonic stem-cell research and other "right-to-life" issues. Mr. Ashcroft
issued a directive Nov. 6 that would have banned any lethal medical
prescriptions, saying they don't meet a legitimate medical purpose under
the controlled-substances law.

Ruling Under Review

Justice Department officials are reviewing the ruling, saying publicly they
need to study the matter further, but privately that they likely will file
an appeal.

"The department is reviewing the court's decision and assessing the
appropriate steps to take. However, the department remains convinced that
its interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act as prohibiting the use
of federally controlled drugs to assist suicide is correct," said Assistant
Attorney General for the Civil Division Robert McCallum.

The fight has centered on Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law because
it is the only one of its kind in the U.S. The 1994 statute allows
terminally ill, mentally competent patients to request drugs to end their
life. After two doctors certify the patient has a terminal illness and a
third certifies mental competence, then the patient's primary doctor may
prescribe lethal medication, but isn't allowed to administer it.

Nearly 100 Oregonians have committed suicide with a physician's assistance
since the law was adopted.

Judge Jones said his ruling wasn't meant to determine whether
physician-assisted suicide was right or wrong, but that the attorney
general didn't have the authority to issue the directive. "The fact that
opposition to assisted suicide may be fully justified ... does not permit a
federal statute to be manipulated from its true meaning to satisfy even a
worthy goal."

Mr. Ashcroft's directive reversed a 1998 decision by his predecessor,
Attorney General Janet Reno, who said the Controlled Substances Act didn't
bar physician-assisted suicide. Ms. Reno, a Clinton appointee, made that
determination in rejecting a Drug Enforcement Agency decision that federal
agents could slap doctors with criminal charges for helping a patient
commit suicide with medication.

Conviction on Issue

The attorney general has strong feelings on the issue. In 1996, then Sen.
Ashcroft introduced a bill to bar the use of federal funds for items or
services that caused or assisted in causing the suicide, euthanasia, or
mercy killing of any individual. The law finally won Senate approval in 1998.

Burke Balch, director of the Department of Medical Ethics for the National
Right to Life Committee, which opposes physician-assisted suicide, said the
breadth of Judge Jones's decision surprised him. He said it opens the door
for states to disregard federal laws on other drug issues such as the
medicinal use of marijuana.

Kristen Grainger, executive assistant for the Oregon attorney general, said
they were "thrilled" with the opinion and it was a victory for all states
to be able to determine how medicine is practiced in their borders.