{"id":7484,"date":"2005-02-23T09:25:28","date_gmt":"2005-02-23T16:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/02\/23\/the-supremes-will-hear-the-oregon-assisted-suicide-case.html"},"modified":"2005-02-23T09:25:28","modified_gmt":"2005-02-23T16:25:28","slug":"the_supremes_wi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/23\/the_supremes_wi.html","title":{"rendered":"The Supremes will hear the Oregon Assisted Suicide case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oregon’s voters have repeatedly supported a law allowing patients, under well-proscribed circumstances, to request of their doctors assistance in ending their lives.<\/p>\n

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the administration’s target, was approved twice by the state’s voters and took effect in November 1997. According to the state, in a brief filed last month, 171 patients have used the law to administer lethal doses of federally regulated drugs that their doctors prescribed for them.<\/p>\n

The law contains precise procedures for informed consent, including an explanation to the patient of alternatives to suicide, like pain relief and hospice care. Two doctors must agree on the patient’s mental competence, diagnosis and prognosis; there must be a “reasonable medical judgment” that the patient will die within six months of “an incurable and irreversible disease.”<\/p>\n

As indicated above, the Bush Administration has repeatedly attempted to quash the law. It’s current attempt, which the Supremes will review<\/a> (after it was rejected by the Ninth Circuit) centers around Federal prescription laws. The assisted suicide is done by providing a lethal drug overdose. The Justice Department claims that this serves no “medical purpose,” and therefore threatens to yank the Federal prescription licenses (as it can do under the Controlled Substances Act) from any doctors who do so.<\/p>\n

The Supremes have tended to defer to the states in this issue in the past, recognizing its sensitivity.<\/p>\n

Although the justices have agreed to review the case, the “who gets to decide” argument on the merits may be a hard sell. The court has been notably deferential to the states, and eight years ago, in another assisted-suicide case, it appeared to invite continued state experimentation.<\/p>\n

In that earlier case, Washington v. Glucksberg, the court rejected the argument that the Constitution itself gives terminally ill people a right to physician-assisted suicide. But at the same time, the justices were careful to make clear that they were not closing the door. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist concluded his majority opinion with these words: “Throughout the nation, Americans are engaged in an earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality, and practicality of physician-assisted suicide. Our holding permits this debate to continue, as it should in a democratic society.”<\/p>\n

This is one of those horrible situations, like abortion, where, though I have doubts and concerns over the actual practice, I dislike even more the government saying that, no, we won’t allow individuals to make a decision over it. <\/em>That they are trying to do so by such a weaselly indirect fashion (“We can’t attack the law, so we’ll attack the people who act underneath it”) makes me even less sympathetic to the DoJ’s case.<\/p>\n

One has to wonder whether Chief Justice Rehnquist’s current battle with cancer may influence the deliberations on this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oregon’s voters have repeatedly supported a law allowing patients, under well-proscribed circumstances, to request of their doctors assistance in ending their lives. Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the administration’s target,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":879,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/11\/06\/like_he_doesnt.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":0},"title":"Like he doesn’t have enough else to do?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 6-Nov-01 8:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Our intrepid Attorney General, having too much time on his hands and too many conservative patrons to ignore, has decided to take firm, decisive action the one issue that's on...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":814,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/11\/12\/now_perhaps_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":1},"title":"Now perhaps the Justice Dept. can turn to something useful","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 12-Nov-01 1:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A federal judge has temporarily blocked the DEA from going after doctors in Oregon who prescribe drugs that help terminally ill patients die. This is presently allowed in Oregon per...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2763,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/09\/24\/because_there_i.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":2},"title":"Because there is a war on, right?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Sep-02 3:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Perhaps there's a lull in prosecuting folks being held in secret, or a shortage of wiretap applications to fill out, but clearly Attorney General Ashcroft has plenty of time on...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26777,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/01\/lying-its-a-good-christian-value.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":3},"title":"Lying: It's a Good, Christian Value","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 1-Mar-12 9:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"Of course it's not, but that seems to be the message that Gov. Brownback (and the Kansas GOP legislators) seem to be sending with this abortion bill.\"Among the provisions is one which would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withhold information -- in order to prevent an abortion --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132883,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/18\/doctors-in-florida-can-legally-ask-their-patients-about-guns-in-the-home.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":4},"title":"Doctors in Florida can legally ask their patients about guns in the home","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 18-Feb-17 6:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A federal appeals court en banc has overturned most of the provisions of a Florida law that forbade doctors from asking patients about guns in the home and discussing the health and safety ramifications thereof -- ruling that a clear First Amendment restriction was not warranted by vague allegations of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/12\/going_to_pot.html","url_meta":{"origin":7484,"position":5},"title":"Going to pot","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 12-Jul-03 9:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"Y'know, with the War in Iraq, the War on Terror, and, heck, even the front lines of the War on Drugs, you'd still think Bush and Ashcroft and the DoJ...","rel":"","context":"In "War on Drugs"","block_context":{"text":"War on Drugs","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/war-on-drugs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}