ASSISTED SUICIDE

My admiration for Dr. Eugene Pearce as a physician and skilled debater
knows no bounds. In his recent letter regarding Oregon's "death with
dignity" law, however, he misses the mark on several points:

1) Nobody said John Ashcroft is a "right-wing wacko." That he is a
religious extremist who has no hesitancy about imposing his beliefs on
others is indisputable.

2) In writing a prescription for an ill patient, a doctor is breaking no
federal law, no matter what the patient does with the medicine. Yet
Ashcroft would summarily remove the doctor's license to practice medicine
without due process. Why his involvement?

3) No one said anything about killing. Oregon's law (passed twice by
voters) allows "death with dignity." Nobody gets "killed." Contrary to Dr.
Pearce's statement, death is the ultimate cure for one who is dying slowly,
while suffering terribly.

4) This is a matter of state's rights. As such, Attorney General Ashcroft
should butt out.

William J. Cameron, M.D.

Stilwell