WASHINGTON (CNS) – In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court Jan. 17 upheld Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, rejecting the U.S. attorney general's attempt to use federal drug control laws to stop doctors from prescribing lethal doses of medicine to people who are terminally ill.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said although the federal government may apply drug laws to states the "authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design."
If the attorney general's argument were to stand, the government could apply the same logic to other types of medical judgments, Kennedy wrote.
"He could decide whether any particular drug may be used for any particular purpose, or indeed whether a physician who administers any controversial treatment could be" barred from practice, Kennedy wrote. The attorney general would have such power even though the law limits his authority to the registration and control of drugs "and despite the statutory purposes to combat drug abuse and prevent illicit drug trafficking," he said.
Kennedy was joined in the majority opinion by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a dissenting opinion, in which he was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas also wrote a separate dissent.
Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide when voters passed the Death With Dignity Act in 1994. The law exempts doctors from civil or criminal liability if they prescribe lethal doses of drugs in keeping with the procedures spelled out in the statute.
The law took effect after a 1997 voter initiative to repeal the statute failed.
Since the law was enacted, about 200 people have committed suicide by following its provisions. The provisions apply to people in the final stages of terminal illness and require a second doctor to confirm the diagnosis. Doctors do not administer the drugs; they only prescribe them.
In 2001 then-Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a directive saying that prescribing drugs limited by the Controlled Substances Act for the purpose of assisted suicide would violate the federal law. The case reached the Supreme Court just as Ashcroft's resignation was announced in 2004, and current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales continued the case when he took over the office.
The Supreme Court in 1997 upheld the right of states to pass laws prohibiting physician-assisted suicide, but this is the first time it has ruled on Oregon's statute. Oregon remains the only state to permit physician-assisted suicide.
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
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