Ashcroft Usurps States' Rights on Death w. Dignity

News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part I a

Ashcroft Usurps States' Rights on Death w. Dignity

"the big losers in this Washington power play will be terminally ill patients and their families in Oregon as well as the rest of the country. Severely ill patients will not be able to count on large doses of opioids if they are dying with severe pain or shortness of breath because some physicians will be reluctant to prescribe out of fear of DEA review."

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Ashcroft’s ruling usurps states’ and voters’ rights

by Dr. Timothy E. Quill, 12/12/2001

To read the complete article, click here-- http://www.dwd.org/fss/news/rochester1212.asp [This link was found on the DWD website through a Google search on 3/22/04]

Excerpt--

With all the genuine perils in the world, Attorney General Ashcroft has chosen to spend some of our precious law enforcement resources threatening Oregon physicians with loss of licensure if they legally prescribe within the Death with Dignity law. ...

The relatively few deaths that are assisted under the new law are subject to safeguards - such as second opinions and waiting periods - and oversight that includes review by the Oregon Health Division. ...

Since there has been no evidence of abuse in the first three years of data collected by the Oregon Health Division, one can only conclude that Ashcroft must feel a need to impose his personal religious philosophy over the will of the Oregon people. ...

Even worse, Ashcroft will empower the Drug Enforcement Agency to make the determination about how a physician is using controlled substances in the care of terminally ill patients. With absolutely no experience in end-of-life care, federal agents will be determining if large doses of medication physicians sometimes prescribed to treat terminally ill patients are used with the intent of hastening death or for relieving pain.

Oregon physicians will be in an impossible position. ...

Oregon took a bold step of legalizing physician aid-in-dying, and we are finally getting some data to settle the non-religious question about whether the practice can be regulated without abuse and without undermining good end-of-life care. Now, four years into the experience, with evidence of excellence in all aspects of end-of-life care in Oregon, Ashcroft is trying to single-handedly pull the plug.

Quill is director of palliative care programs at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

http://www.dwd.org/fss/news/rochester1212.asp

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FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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