JURIST - Paper Chase: Ashcroft asks Ninth Circuit to overrule Oregon's assisted suicide law

Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision in favor of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, which allows terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to request a lethal dose of drugs. See this previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase for background on the Ninth Circuit decision upholding Oregon's law. In its petition for a rehearing, the Justice Department argues that the state law conflicts with the federal Controlled Substances Act, saying that "the attorney general recently issued an interpretive rule clarifying that assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose under the CSA." Supporters of the law say that the federal government has no authority to regulate the practice of medicine or establish the standard of care in states. Tuesday's Statesman Journal has the full story.