Death wish

Courts | High court OKs suicidal prescriptions, provokes first Roberts dissent | Mark Bergin

Charlene Andrews, a 68-year-old cancer patient, has a reason to live: She wants to secure the right of the terminally ill to give up and die.

Ms. Andrews on Jan. 17 joined right-to-die advocates in hailing a Supreme Court decision that upholds Oregon's Death with Dignity Act—a twice voter-approved law that allows doctors to prescribe lethal doses of barbiturates to patients they believe will die within six months. More than 200 Oregon residents have used that provision to end their lives.

Former attorney general John Ashcroft sought to criminalize such physician-assisted suicide in 2001, declaring that participating doctors were violating the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, has maintained that position.

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January 28, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 4

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