Word: oregon
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Therefore, if Ashcroft wants to end physician-assisted suicide, he should work with Congress to get a specific federal law to ban physician-assisted suicide. By trying to ignore the voters of Oregon, Ashcroft defrauds our democracy of the open debate it needs...
Ashcroft’s decision to crack down on doctors while the nation is preoccupied with international events is especially alarming. Oregon is the only state that has passed a law legalizing assisted suicide and Ashcroft seems to want to make the state an example so others will not follow suit. So far, the other 49 states prohibit doctors from dispensing controlled substances for the purpose of ending a patient’s life. Oregon became the exception in 1994, when 51 percent of the state’s voters approved a referendum establishing the state’s Death...
Ashcroft claims that the act violates the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). However, he also feels strongly that physician-assisted suicide is wrong and fears it allows physicians to abuse their power and act against the best interests of patients. However, the voters of Oregon were not hasty when voting for the law. While the act does legalize physician-assisted suicide, it does so only under tightly restricted circumstances. For example, it does not allow doctors themselves to administer lethal medication in the same way practiced by the infamous Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Instead, a physician can prescribe a lethal dose...
Defenders of the Oregon law, including some people who personally oppose legalized physician-assisted suicide, have accused Ashcroft and the Bush Administration of hypocrisy. All five of Oregon’s House members have condemned Ashcroft’s action against the state. Ashcroft seems to support states’ rights only when the states are exercising their rights in a manner that pleases him and the president...
...strong advocate for states’ rights but feels that there are circumstances when federal policy should prevail. One such circumstance would be where the actions in one state interfere with the actions of another state. For example, if the sale of marijuana were legal in Oregon, it would undermine the other states’ efforts to reduce drug trafficking. But the Death with Dignity Act has not attracted people from other states—the law allows lethal prescriptions to be given only to patients who are residents of Oregon...