ASHCROFT'S MEDDLESOME FORAY AGAINST ASSISTED SUICIDE IN OREGON

Thank you, Clarence Page, for bringing up Attorney General John
Ashcroft's meddlesome foray against assisted suicide in Oregon
("Citizens deserve the right to die," Nov. 13 opinion pages).

After a diagnosis of cancer four years ago and countless office visits
and chemo treatments, I've seen firsthand the various stages of pre-
death sitting all around me -- and it ain't pretty.

Mine is in remission, but when the time comes to make my exit from
this world, I don't need some paternalistic government making the call
for me on how I end my life.

I realize my government has a vested interest in protecting citizens.
But from all accounts, Oregon has very strict guidelines. It is
unbelievable that aggressive pain management could be criminalized.
Many doctors will undermedicate for fear of being prosecuted. What
makes Mr. Ashcroft think terminal patients are in a hurry to die?
Those of us with these kinds of diseases are scared to death of dying.
But a future of unrelenting pain (even with the best medications)
before death is something most people are unwilling to endure.

I'd like to tell Mr. Ashcroft to leave us alone with our doctors to
make this most-personal of decisions. Give us the freedom from
government intrusion in our everyday life that the Republican Party is
always so hot on for everything else.

KATHLEEN C. BUTLER

Wichita