Federal District Judge Robert Jones ruled Wednesday that Oregon’s controversial Death With Dignity Act will remain intact, at least until its expected challenge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Jones issued a permanent injunction against Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Nov. 6, 2001, ruling, which would have made it a crime for doctors to prescribe lethal doses of pain medication to terminally ill patients in Oregon under the Controlled Substances Act.
The judge’s decision was hailed by supporters of assisted suicide as a major victory for patients’ and states’ rights and decried by opponents as immoral and unfair to doctors.
“We’ve been under a cloud of uncertainty,” said physician and state Rep. Alan Bates, D-Ashland. “This will allow us to resume compassionate care for patients without the danger of losing our license.”
But Dr. Greg Hamilton, president of right-to-life group Compassion in Dying, said the judge’s ruling puts the desires of patients in direct conflict with ethical responsibilities of doctors.
The ruling is “inconsistent with our role as healers,” Hamilton said. “Doctors need to value all people’s lives equally.”
Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right To Life, echoed Hamilton’s views.
“We’re very, very disappointed by the ruling,” she said. “No matter what the judge has said, it’s wrong for patients to kill themselves.”
Jones, while sympathetic to opponents of assisted suicide, condemned Ashcroft’s November action, saying the attorney general abused his power.
“My task is not to criticize those who oppose the concept of assisted suicide for any reason,” Jones said in his ruling Wednesday. But opposition to assisted suicide “does not permit (the Controlled Substances Act) to be manipulated from its true meaning to satisfy even a worthy goal,” he concluded.
The U.S. attorney general’s office is expected to appeal Jones’ ruling to the 9th Circuit Court within the month.
“The (Department of Justice) remains convinced that its interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act as prohibiting the use of federally controlled drugs to assist suicide is correct,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General Robert McCallum said in a Wednesday statement.
If the federal government appeals the case, both sides contend it may go all the way to the Supreme Court. Eli Stutsman, lead attorney for the assisted suicide advocacy group Oregon Death With Dignity, said the 9th Circuit Court has a proven track record of siding with states’ rights on past cases.
But Atteberry of Oregon Right To Life maintained that the Supreme Court has a history of overturning decisions from the 9th Circuit Court.
“This ruling will be appealed,” Atteberry said. “We’ll continue to fight, and we’re optimistic in the end that the appeal will be upheld.”