Pubdate: September 27, 1999
Source: Time Magazine (US)
Copyright: 1999 Time Inc.
Contact:  Time Magazine Letters, Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, NY,
NY 10020
Fax: (212) 522-8949
Website: http://www.time.com/
Author: John Cloud & Sally B. Donnelly

PAINFUL DEBATE

Should congress prohibit "right-to-die" measures?

It took years for Oregonians to settle the prickly question of whether
doctors should be able to help people kill themselves.  But a majority of
the state's voters made clear-twice-that they favor physician-assisted
suicides, at least in the limited case of terminally ill people expected to
live less than six months.

The initiatives that approved assisted suicide had all the messy attributes
of democracy, including emotional debate and dumb ads, but the state has
carried out the law with care.  Oregon hasn't become a Hemlock Society
convention-only 15 people committed suicide with a doctor's help last
year-and other states are mulling similar laws.

Now Congress is hurrying to ruin the people's work.  The House Judiciary
Committee passed a bill last week that would essentially outlaw assisted
suicides.  The so-called Pain Relief Promotion Act sounds hilariously
uncontroversial, but in fact it would send doctors to jail for life for
prescribing controlled substances with the intent of hastening death. The
bill now goes to the entire House.  Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden has promised a
filibuster in the Senate; the President has taken no stand.

Supporters, including Roman Catholic bishops and right-to-lifers, say the
bill would reduce demand for assisted suicide by making clear that doctors
can treat pain aggressively without being overly scrutinized; moreover,
physicians wouldn't be prosecuted if they "accidentally" killed with huge
doses of drugs.  But foes, including patient advocates, say it would be too
hard to determine if a death caused by painkillers was intentional or not.
So cops will pry into all cases. "If this bill is passed," says Dr. Nancy
Crumbpacker, a cancer specialist, "doctors will never again be able to treat
suffering people without fear of punishment.

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