April 17, 2002
Wednesday - 11:45 pm

A just and compassionate civilization can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Terminally ill patients are among our most vulnerable citizens and that is why we must not abandon them or assist in killing them. This principle applies with even greater force to people who are not terminally ill but who may be moved by depression or other psychological or emotional problems to seek assistance in taking their own lives. That is why the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association say assisted suicide is 'fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer' and that prohibiting assisted suicide is 'a cornerstone of medical ethics.'

Today, the district court judge engaged in the worst kind of judicial policymaking. His decision made bad case law in the service of bad social policy. I am greatly disappointed that the judge has chosen to overturn Attorney General John Ashcroft's ruling that assisted suicide is not a 'legitimate medical purpose' under federal law. Mr. Ashcroft had rightly determined that prescribing, dispensing or administering federally controlled substances to assist suicides violates the Controlled Substances Act.

The Attorney General's Nov. 6, 2001, memo makes clear that physicians may use federally controlled substances to manage pain. Pain management, in contrast to assisted suicide, has long been recognized as a legitimate medical purpose justifying physicians' dispensing of controlled substances. However, there are important medical, ethical and legal distinctions between intentionally causing a patient's death and providing sufficient dosages of pain medications to eliminate or alleviate pain.

Today's ruling turns the constitutional system upside down and makes the government of Oregon the primary interpreter and administrator of a federal criminal law. The United States Constitution requires the president, not the state of Oregon, to 'take care that the laws are faithfully executed.' I hope that the Court of Appeals and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court will see things differently." 

Note: Today an Oregon District Judge permanently enjoined the U.S. Justice Department from enforcing a directive issued last November by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft regarding assisted suicide. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) remarks are in response to today's ruling.

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