JUDGE LETS LAW STAND ON SUICIDE

PORTLAND - Despite the Bush administration's attempt to shut down
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, the nation's only assisted suicide
law will remain in place for at least four more months under a federal
judge's order Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones, after four hours of courtroom
debate, decided to extend until the spring a temporary restraining
order he first ordered nearly three weeks ago.

The decision, a second straight victory for the state of Oregon, means
dying patients can continue to seek prescriptions for life-ending
medication under the assisted suicide law that voters approved in 1994
and upheld in 1997.

Jones sought to make clear during comments from the bench that his
order will give absolute legal protection to medical practitioners who
prescribe or fill prescriptions for patients who qualify under the
state law.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Nov. 6 directed the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration to go after doctors who prescribe
drugs under the Oregon law, effectively ending their medical practices
by revoking their licenses to prescribe federally scheduled controlled
substances.

Two days later, Jones issued a temporary restraining order that was to
expire Tuesday. In the wake of that order, many doctors expressed
reservations about prescribing life-ending drugs to patients, and at
least one dying patient's doctor said he wouldn't fill any such
prescriptions without greater assurances that the DEA wouldn't come
after him.

As long as his restraining order is in place, Jones said, it
effectively "nullifies giving any legal effect to the directive issued
by John Ashcroft."

The extension is meant to give lawyers for the state of Oregon, as
well as terminally ill patients, a physician and a pharmacist who are
part of the legal action, 60 days to prepare their written arguments.

Then federal lawyers will have 30 days to review and rebut those
arguments with briefs of their own, and Oregon lawyers will have 14
days from there to prepare responses.

Jones said he planned to set the next court date for some time in
early March and to give his final decision on the challenge by late
that month or early in April.

Jones extended the restraining order, rather than grant a preliminary
injunction as Oregon lawyers had sought, because he wanted to expedite
what is expected to be a lengthy legal fight.

Unlike a preliminary injunction, a restraining order can't be
appealed. Some have said they expect the case to take three to four
years and to eventually end up in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although the case could lead to a landmark decision on state
sovereignty, the federal government's mandate to protect life and
individual rights to make end-of-life decisions, Tuesday's legal
contest focused on more narrow issues.

Steve Bushong, a state lawyer under Oregon Attorney General Hardy
Myers, contended that Ashcroft lacked the legal authority to impose
such a directive.

Under federal law, Ashcroft could only have issued such a directive
after giving public notice and allowing for public comment on his
proposal, Bushong argued. No such process took place, despite a letter
from Myers to Ashcroft in February, asking for a chance to weigh in on
any efforts to pre-empt the state's assisted-suicide law.

When Ashcroft's predecessor in the Clinton administration, Janet Reno,
deliberated over whether the Controlled Substances Act should prevent
Oregon doctors from prescribing drugs to allow patients to commit
suicide, she opened the process for public comment.

In 1997, Reno determined that Oregon's law did not conflict with the
federal act. Bushong contrasted that with Ashcroft's approach.

"We know what process was used. It was a secret process. No public
notice. No public comment," he said. "The important public dialogue
never happened here."

Gregory Katsas, deputy assistant U.S. attorney general, countered that
no public process was required before Ashcroft's directive because it
was "interpretive" in relation to the 1971 Controlled Substances Act,
rather than "substantive" in creation of a wholly new policy.

Katsas also sought to refute Oregon lawyers' arguments that the legal
system gave states the authority to regulate the practice of medicine.

And he countered claims that the Bush administration was misusing the
Controlled Substances Act because it was intended strictly to
prosecute those engaged in the trade and use of illicit drugs - not to
stop states from drafting their own laws about end-of-life medical
practices.

Citing the history and various elements of the act, he told Jones that
it was clear Congress intended to establish "a single, medically based
standard" for the dispensation of controlled substances by licensed
medical professionals.

Since Oregon's suicide law went into effect in 1998, at least 70
terminally ill people have used the law to end their lives.

WHAT'S NEXT

Attorneys have 104 days to complete written legal arguments in
Oregon's challenge of a federal directive to strip doctors of their
licenses to prescribe drugs if they help patients end their lives
under the state's assisted suicide law.

A U.S. District Court judge will then hear arguments from both sides.
He plans to issue a ruling within 30 days.